Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I'm not making any money writing this. I am borrowing characters, settings and background stories.

Warnings: Shampoo-bashing. Angst and language.

Beta-Reader: pursemonger. Thank you soooo much for reading through this and spotting all the inconsistencies and mistakes. Hopefully now an easier read for everyone – please enjoy!

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In so little time her entire life had turned around. Just two years ago at the age of sixteen she had been introduced to her intended, Ranma Saotome. Though it had originally been a ploy from their fathers to join the two branches of the Anything Goes Martial School, she had quickly grown to like the boy now living in their home. Her life, never having been particularly boring, had quickly gained a level of excitement that even now, after two years, she had not grown accustomed to.

When she first met him, he was in his cursed female form. Having trained with her dad when she was younger and on her own since she was ten, she had grown used to being the best martial artist in town. Curious about their guest – not knowing he was male –Akane had invited Ranma to spar, boasting her own skills. To her surprise Ranma evaded her punches and kicks without difficulty and though unwilling to engage in actual combat, was able to 'defeat' her by dodging all her attacks and tapping her on the back of her head, showing the ease in which Ranma could have dealt with her. It would have hurt Akane's ego, except that she had been excited; not only had she found someone with a higher skill level than hers, but the martial artist was also a girl. Finally, she had thought, someone who would understand the trouble of being feminine, labelled a tomboy and practicing a sport that was still largely dominated by men and that disregarded women as the weaker sex. Akane had even hoped that the girl might be persuaded to help her improve her skills or at least spar with her on occasion.

All that had quickly changed once she found out about the curse. She was actually a he, Ranma Saotome, the boy to be engaged to one of the Tendo sisters, and she had been volunteered. Having trained in China, the boy had gone to the Jusenkyo training grounds with his father and fallen into one of hundreds of cursed springs; turning him into a girl when in contact with cold water and back into a boy when in touch with hot water.

She had been mortified; not only by seeing each other naked in the bathroom but also by having been beaten not by a girl, but by a boy.

On top of that, one of the boys from the upper classes, Tatewaki Kuno, had boldly declared that to earn a date with her, boys would have to defeat her. Thus, every morning since then, without fail, she found herself confronted by a horde of boys at her school, kitted out in protective gear and with weapons, attacking her in order to take her out on a date or worse. Despite her protests against Kuno's claim and her consistently denying she would go out with boys even if they should defeat her, the attacks had not stopped.

Due to this, her opinion of boys was low; believing them to be perverted, twisted individuals without honour.

Then she had been engaged to Ranma Saotome. Over two years, slowly and bit by bit he eroded her defences, overturned her beliefs and allowed her to irrevocably fall in love with him.

Over two years they faced other people with curses, fiancées, engagements, revenge attacks, demons, ghosts, curses, amazons and at the end, a demi-god. And without fail, Ranma had stood in front of her, protecting her, saving her, rescuing her. He was her knight in shining armour.

Ranma, Akane found out, believed in honour above all else. With his dad breaking promises left and right, he decided to do the opposite and never break a promise. His sheer talent for martial arts still left her breathless – he needed only see a technique and he would learn it at such a rapid pace she could scarcely believe he hadn't always known it. He took the "anything goes" part of the Martial Arts school seriously, using everything and anything he could, changing techniques and plans at the drop of a hat, fluently moving from one kata to the next. Then she had known she would never hold a candle to him, but it had given her something to aspire to, something to learn, something that showed her how much she still had to go.

Instead of discouraging her, she could not have been happier; martial arts were her passion and that there was still so much out there she hadn't been exposed to had been exciting.

And Ranma... He was lacking in social skills, with a permanent foot-in-mouth disease, an inability to admit he was wrong, a desperate need to appear masculine and not show any feelings, an enormous ego and the strong belief that he was the best martial artist in the world. But she had, on more than one occasion, been allowed a glimpse into the man behind the bravado, the man who had stolen her heart. The man, who despite all the adversities, was courageous, honest, passionate, shy and honourable. The man who had defended her when Mikado Sanzenin had tried to steal a kiss from her in front of everyone, the man who had turned into a girl and fought in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics in only a leotard; for her, the man who had consoled her when she had been upset over Dr. Tofu's love for her older sister and the man who had ended up fighting for her against a demi-god.

Against all his ideals, to save her, he had taken the only course of option available to rescue her and killed. Then he had proceeded to destroy his chances of returning to his male form in an attempt to save her life and return her from her doll-state.

Over their years together, Akane had found herself relegated to a damsel in distress role far too frequently for her tastes rather than the martial artist and fighter role she wanted to hold. More often than not, she had been unable to face their many adversaries on her own, lacking both the skill and experience to defeat them. Instead she had found herself taking insane risks in an instinctive need and desire to help and rescue Ranma. Most times, she had found herself in need of rescue immediately afterwards herself, such as when she had been shrunken to doll or when she had saved him from the eight headed Orochi and he then had to rescue her to save her from being eaten

Despite her best efforts, Akane had come to rely on Ranma. He had seemed undefeatable; no matter who or what stood in his way and how much the odds were stacked in the other party's favour, no matter what he had to do or learn or how often he was beaten prior to winning – he never gave up. He bounced back. And he was always there in the nick of time to rescue her and save her. So despite her best efforts, Akane had started to rely on Ranma to save her.

Not that she'd stopped training – on the contrary. She had increased her morning jogs and tried to find as much time as possible for training in the dojo. But there was only so much one can learn without instructor or partner. Ranma, unwilling to lift a hand against her, continuously denied her and so Akane never received the aid she needed to correct her forms and improve at a pace she could – faults she made carried through all her other manoeuvres as she had no way to recognise the mistakes she was making.

Unfortunately, after two years, it finally cost her.

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"Hold on a sec, let me get this straight. You, Akane Tendo, actually AGREED to marry Ranma? The one and only fiancé you have denied being engaged to for two entire years? You AGREED?", Yuka and Sayuri looked at her, stunned.

Against her will, Akane blushed.

"I thought you said that you wouldn't go through with it unless he said... OH MY GOD! Did he-", Yuka, excited, leant forward looking at her best friend.

"I- It's complicated.", Akane finally stated, only to be interrupted by Sakuya, snorting in laughter.

"Akane, honey, everything with you and Ranma is complicated. I don't think it's ever NOT been complicated."

Allowing a small smile, Akane conceded the point. Their relationship, their friends, families – hell, their entire existence was complicated; and that was not including other fiancées.

"I- In China…"

"You mean when he rescued you. Again. For the umpteenth time."

A wry smile from Yuka and Akane at this point; there was no reason for denying it anymore – her friends knew of a great many of their escapades already.

"Yes, when Ranma rescued me again. Now if you'd let me finish, please! I... thought I heard him say I love you. My dad said he'd get water from the Nanniichuan, the water that would allow him to return to being male 100 % of the time, if I married him. I thought he loved me and I didn't want to marry so young, but I love him. I saw no reason to disagree since the benefits for him would be so great.", Akane's lips quirked into another smile. She had also, rather foolishly considering Soun and Genma's previous schemes, presumed that Ranma had consented.

"On the day of the wedding he denied having ever said he loved me. And... well, as soon as he heard about the water he ran. Guess he didn't want to marry me even if it meant being a man for the rest of his life."

The smile Akane gave her two friends was brittle. The failed wedding had been mere days ago and she had felt both her heart and dreams shatter in one fell swoop. First, when Ranma had taken back his declaration – or never said it at all and when he had left her trying to avoid marrying even if it meant losing out on the water and ran out to obtain it immediately, her heart had broken, realising that her love may just be one sided and not returned. Then she had stepped outside, seen the chaos that was meant to be her wedding – the damaged furniture and broken walls, the fights and bombs, the laughter and cries and fighting. Her dreams of the perfect wedding, which had only been built up higher when Ranma had first been speechless and then complimented her on how beautiful she looked, had shattered in that instant.

Somehow, in such a short space of time, everything seemed to have gone awry.

Sayuri and Yuka picked up on her emotions immediately after having been friends for such a long time and she felt the hug before she even saw them move.

"Men are bastards, 'kane."

Sayuri hummed her agreement as she found herself in a three-way hug between her best friends and for the first time in a week, Akane allowed herself to relax the tight grip she had kept on her emotions and the tears came.

"Shh... I'm sure Ranma didn't mean what he said. You know he tends to always say the wrong things. Besides, maybe he was just nervous 'cause he didn't know how you felt..."

Yuka glared at her other friend and gave her a soft slap on the shoulder, shaking her head.

"On the other hand", Sayuri quickly amended. "Maybe men are just bastards."

Between the tears, Akane let out a chuckle at her words, sniffling quietly. Suddenly, Yuka's grip on her tightened.

"Uh-oh, Shampoo, three o'clock."

Sayuri looked up as well. "That's not three o'clock. That's like ten o'clock!"

Rolling her eyes at her friends she quickly wiped away the tears, composing herself and trying to look less like she had just bawled all over her friends. Giving it up as a bad job, she turned around to face her rival.

"Kitchen wrecker. You and I talk. Shakujii park. After school. Alone."

Akane paused. She knew Ranma was on the other side of the school with his friends currently and unlikely to find about this. But Shampoo was still much better martial artist than her – though never one to back down from a challenge, Akane nodded coolly at the purple haired Amazonian warrior.

A cold smirk settled on the other girl lips before she disappeared on her bicycle at blazing speed.

There was a slight pause as her best friends looked at her.

"You are going to tell Ranma about this, right?" Yuka cautiously questioned, frowning at the determined expression on her friend's face.

Glaring, Akane looked up.

"I can fight my own fights, thank you. I don't need Ranma to fight them for me. I will turn up. Alone. And you two will keep quiet about this – promise me!"

Sayuri exchanged a short glance with Yuka.

"You can't be serious. You have to tell Ranma!"

Shoulders straightening, Akane looked at her friends.

"Promise me. I am a martial artist. Even if there is a fight and I do lose – this is MY fight. Not Ranma's. My pride and my honour is at stake here; I gave her my word. You can't tell Ranma. PROMISE ME!"

Akane was glad she had chosen a secluded spot as opposed to her normal one, as she had wanted peace and quiet to share the events from the wedding with her best friends. On this occasion it meant that she didn't have people who could report back that they had seen Shampoo talk to her.

Reluctantly, both her friends agreed to keep quiet.

Sighing in relief, Akane smiled and chatted again to her friends, ignoring the time passage and the previous heavy topics, thoughts racing as she tried to figure out what Shampoo could want to talk to her about.

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Ranma stared at his favourite fiancée. Something was off. Akane had never been good at being covert so when she said she needed to go elsewhere and he should go ahead, all his alarm bells rang.

Since he'd nearly lost her in China, Ranma had found himself unable to leave Akane alone for long periods of time, needing to check visually at least that she was still here – with him – and alive. He had even found himself waking up at intervals throughout the night and checked on her then – it was embarrassing and yet he was too afraid to allow her to be without him, thus he was in a vicious cycle.

"Uh-huh. I haven't got anything to do, I'll come with you."

He stared at her, challenging her. And as always, his fiery tomboy responded in kind.

"Okay. Let me spell it out for you then, Ranma, since you are so keen to accompany me. I have my period and it's particularly heavy this time so I need to go buy different towels. Still want to come along?"

Ranma found himself blushing, feeling hot and cold simultaneously as a part of him felt challenged to be with her nonetheless whilst the other, larger part cringed and wanted to run the other way and pretend he had not heard what she had just said.

"I- err.. That is to say- I think I've forgotten something at home."

He could hear her giggle as he fled the scene with rapid movements. It wasn't until he took his shoes off at home that it finally occurred to him that it had been nothing but a diversionary tactic.

He knew Akane – no telltale blushing, no embarrassment. She had lied! A part of him wanted to smile in acknowledgement for her victory but the other part was nervous of where she had really gone. Shoes back on, Ranma was back out on the street, hoping to find his fiancée and assure himself of her continued safety.

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Kasumi walked out of the kitchen, frowning slightly.

"I could have sworn I heard someone coming home."

Shrugging slightly, she dismissed the worry she felt and returned to the dinner preparations.

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"So... what did you want to talk about, Shampoo?"

The Amazon could hardly believe that the dumb blue haired girl had actually complied and turned up alone. Foolish mistake. She smirked.

"Cancel engagement to Airen."

Her rival just rolled her eyes.

"Really? Same old thing again? We've been through this. It was our fathers' idea – I am not cancelling it."

"Ah, but agree to marry, last week, yes?"

It was almost too easy. The blue haired girl blushed slightly and lost eye contact momentarily.

"Only for the nanniichuan."

Shampoo kept her face icy. She had never taken Akane seriously, despite Ranma continuing to protect her at every turn. It had just proven to her that he took honour seriously, that he thought the kitchen wrecker was unable to defend herself. There had been doubts, occasionally, about the extent of his feelings, of course. But never worse than when they were in China; she had seen how far he was willing to go for Akane, how much he was willing to sacrifice and seen that he was willing to kill to keep her save. It was hard to fool herself that he would do the same for her.

Obstacles, such as Akane, were usually for killing. Shampoo was well aware though that should she follow the rules, she was forfeiting her own life as well. Ranma had proven how far he was willing to go for Akane and there was no need to test if that applied to her own life as well. And besides, taking that action would certainly not endear her to her fiancé. Amazonian tribes understood the rules but Ranma was remarkably set against death despite the many foes he'd encountered. No, she' decided, this required a different approach altogether.

"You sisters have, yes? Nabiki? Kasumi? If kitchen wrecker persists... there may be accidents."

Akane's head shot up and her eyes widened. Shampoo had never gone so far as to threaten her sisters' safety.

"Ranma and I will protect them!", fuming she stared at the other girl, unable to believe she would go that far.

"Airen and kitchen wrecker go school. No be around 24/7. Shame for sisters die because of stubborn Akane, yes? They know no martial arts, no?"

Head whirring she stared at the purple haired Amazonian, unable to form words. After a short pause, the other girl continued.

"Give three days. Leave in three days. No tell Ranma about Shampoo. Leave and sisters live. If not..."

With an icy glare and cold smirk, Shampoo shot up into the trees and disappeared, leaving a flabbergasted Akane behind.

Neither Kasumi nor Nabiki knew martial arts beyond the basics that they had all been taught as young girls. They didn't know how to defend themselves and Shampoo had proven on more than one memorable occasion how easy it was for her to sneak into the house.

And Shampoo was right; neither Ranma nor herself would be able to protect both her sisters at all times. There would be unobserved moments and Shampoo's skill level was high. She would be able to make it look like an accident easily enough. Even if she included her father into her calculations, there was no way of protecting them at all times. And who knew for how long they needed to do this? When would they be safe? After a day? A Week? A Month? They couldn't carry it on for a year, surely. Then again, Shampoo had followed Ranma and his father across two countries for months, leaving everything she knew behind.

Oh God. What was she going to do? Blindly, Akane sat down on the ground, body trembling as she stared into nothingness.

She was a martial artist. She could learn to defend herself and fight Shampoo... But the problem remained. Akane was willing to go far for her family, very far. But to kill someone she had already defeated? For what reason... No, she couldn't do that unless she attacked her family outright and didn't just threaten.

And besides, three days would be nowhere near enough time to raise her skills to match Shampoo's. Whilst she liked to pretend otherwise in front of Ranma, she was well aware that Shampoo still outmatched her.

But that only left... leaving. Leaving Ranma, her family and friends, everything and everyone she loved behind. Could she really go through with that?

Breathing out, Akane admitted to herself that that wasn't a real question. She knew she could easily go through with it if it assured her family's safety, if it meant they would live then she would abandon them rather than stay and watch their deaths.

But Ranma, Akane silently admitted to herself, would be the hardest. She loved him, she knew that. And she wasn't sure what he felt – whether he loved her or not, but if she left she'd never be given the opportunity to find out if he could love her, if he could be interested in her above the other fiancées.

Swallowing hard, Akane stared emptily at the wind whistling through the trees. Was she really contemplating this? Would she really leave without a fight?

Biting her lip, Akane stood up and made her way home, trying to wipe away those thoughts. Surely there were other options?

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Ranma was surprised when Akane walked into the dojo in the middle of his kata. He had finally given up on his search around dinner time only to find out that she was already home. Furious with himself, he'd kept quiet during dinner, hoping to avoid starting another fight due to his frustrations – though Akane had been rather silent herself to his surprise.

He paused in his movement.

"Akane?"

"Can I ask you a question, Ranma?"

Her serious tone warned him not to make an inappropriate joke so he just grabbed his towel and wiped off the sweat before sitting down across from her.

"Sure. What's up?"

He watched as his fiancée bit her pink lips, brown eyes wide and resting on his own, shining with uncertainty. Somehow, she seemed even cuter now than two years ago.

"I... If you were challenged to a fight where losing meant that the people you love will die and you know that you are not up to their level... would you still fight? Or would you leave?"

Ranma frowned, feeling his muscles tense automatically. Someone had challenged Akane to a fight?

"Who has challenged you? I'll fight for you."

Akane smiled softly at the predictable response from her fiancé.

"Baka." Her tone was soft, almost using it as a term of endearment rather than the insult it should have been. "It's a hypothetical question."

Ranma stared at her, eyes narrowed. Something was off, that much was certain. But it could wait until tomorrow and he'd ask around at school to see if anyone knew anything about this.

"You are certain you can't win? Not with distraction, techniques, weapons? And it's certain that someone you love dies should you lose?"

At her nod, he gave her a grim smile.

"Then forfeit. And train, train hard. Then come back and fight them, win and make them back off."

"What if... What if winning meant you had to kill as they would otherwise come back to hurt the ones you love anyway?"

Unable to help himself, he pulled Akane into a hug, swallowing hard, still remembering the moment he had made the decision back in China that he had to kill or Akane would die.

"I'll protect you." He never, ever wanted her to go through that. She was his tomboy. She was under his protection and she should never have to face making that horrible decision he'd been forced to take.

Eyes closed, his arms tightened around her small body. She fitted surprisingly well into him, he noticed.

"Please, 'kane, let me know what's wrong. I'll fight for you, I'll handle everything. Please."

He was not usually one for begging unless it was as a distraction for the enemy, but this was Akane and something was seriously wrong.

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Akane burrowed her face against Ranma's shoulders, still feeling his body radiating with heat from his earlier exertion. She could feel his hard muscles under her fingertips, reassuring her silently that he was a formidable foe against anyone she required protection from. He had become her safety net without her realising.

Feeling desperation rise in her, her chest clamped and it was suddenly difficult to swallow. It would be so easy to tell Ranma everything, leave him to protect her, save her, as he had done from the day they first met. Her arms tightened around his masculine frame, desperate to feel his strength, assure herself that he could really protect her sisters; that she could tell him what had happened.

But instead her head reminded her of the impossibility of the task and her desperation slowly made way to an emptiness that made her want to both cry and scream in anguish.

How had things gone from bad to worse in such a short period of time?

Slowly relinquishing her hold on Ranma she moved back to her earlier position, eyes miraculously dry as she looked at the man she loved, decision made. A smile lit up her face and she watched as he blushed, another short moment of sadness welling up inside her at the lack of time they had had together and the impossibility of exploring these feelings with him.

"Thank you, Ranma."

Just as she was about to leave the dojo, his voice stopped her.

"'Kane? You'd tell me if you needed help, wouldn't you?"

It took Akane a moment to force the smile that she knew would convince him on her face before she turned around to face him again.

"Of course, Ranma."

She felt his eyes on her back as she walked back to her room.

Preparations needed to be made.

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Worried, Ranma had been unable to sleep and stayed up all night on the roof above Akane's room. She'd had her curtains closed but he checked her ki every now and then and minus the emotional fluctuations he could sense, she was fine.

Did she not know that he would do anything to protect her? Had he not proven that in China? Why not trust him now?

Sighing, Ranma left his position at sunrise, shaking the feeling back into his legs as he slipped into his room through the window. At least nothing had happened last night.

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Despite his best efforts, no one at school knew anything. Even Nabiki, the one who usually had all the information at her fingertips, knew nothing.

Sending sideways glances at his fiancée, he frowned. She'd been up in the school office and at her doctors. What was she up to? Was it even related or just coincidental?

He sighed looking at his fiancée's determined expression.

Why did it always have to be the hard way?

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Despite how much she would prefer to spend the small amount of time that remained with her family and Ranma, there were too many preparations to be made in too short a time scale. She'd snuck in the paperwork she required from her father as a "field trip" she needed him to sign off. He hadn't even looked at it.

She was now allowed to legally change her name as well as rent a flat. Step one: done. She knew there was packing to be done still, finding out where she was going to go and what school she was going to attend. She'd already obtained transcripts from her doctors and the school for her moving and she'd informed the school office of her leaving. She knew the secretary and the information was easily lost in the system until someone accessed the information specifically.

Next, she knew, was sorting through her belonging and figuring out where she wanted to go. Then it was time to start laying false trails.

Breathing in, she swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling the now familiar sadness and desperation well up inside herself. Sternly, she reminded herself that this was for Nabiki and Kasumi. Looking at herself in the mirror she tried out expressions of happiness, knowing she needed to fool her family at dinner. Akane left her room only moments later.

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Ranma watched, gobsmacked, as his fiancée walked into the Nekohanten. What did she want in there?

It had been two days since their weird conversation in the dojo and if anything, his worry over her had only increased. He still had no further leads as to what was going on and it nagged at him. Maybe it had really been hypothetical – but if that were the case then why was she behaving so oddly?

Ranma grumbled. He'd never understand females. Shampoo and Akane hated each other, of that he had been certain. So why visit?

Women...

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"Kitchen wrecker make decision, then?"

Shampoo tried to not look too gleeful as she watched her Airen's fiancée walk into the private room with her. She watched as the other girl gritted her teeth and glared at her, hatred evident in those eyes for the first time.

"I forfeit. I will leave Nerima. And Ranma. You will leave my family alone in return."

Unable to suppress her smirk any longer, the purple haired girl looked at her ex-rival in satisfaction.

"Promise on Amazonian honour – no touch family so long Akane remain gone."

It was oddly satisfying to watch the other girls' fist clench and the range of emotions pass across her face, before she gave a firm nod and turned around to leave. At the door, she watched her hesitate, head down and eyes on the floor.

"If... If Ranma chooses you, promise me you'll make him happy."

Shampoo's smirk vanished and for the first time she felt something akin to sympathy for the girl, though it passed quickly.

"Shampoo promises make Airen very happy."

Brown eyes met her own for a moment and she received another decisive nod.

"See that you do."

Shampoo watched the other girl go, wondering if she had done the right thing for the first time. Surely Airen would choose her, now that this one was out of the picture? Not Okonomiyaki-girl certainly. He needn't ever know what she'd done, otherwise, she knew, he would be very, very upset with her.

There had been numerous occasions where she had threatened to kill Akane herself and he had never done anything further beyond fighting her but something had changed in China. Shampoo had threatened to kill a helpless Akane-doll in her hands, to crush her if he didn't do as she said. That, she knew, had been her first strike. And when she had admitted at the wedding that her bomb had actually been intended for the bride, she had noticed the glacial expression on his face moments before Ukyo's had made contact.

Since then, her Airen had only glared at her and ignored her. But now that kitchen wrecker was gone and the engagement dissolved, he would come to her, right? There would be nothing further to keep him from honouring their engagement and coming back to her village... right? Why did she suddenly have this ominous feeling in her chest? Like something was really, really not going according to plan. As if she had just made a very big mistake?

Shampoo shook her head, reassuring herself that she was indeed doing the right thing and skipping out to help serve the customers.

She noticed her great-grandmothers questioning eyes on her, but resolved to ignore it for now.

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Akane knew she couldn't behave too oddly for fear of setting off alarm bells in everyone's head but it was hard. She wanted, desperately, to hug her father, wanted him to reassure as he hadn't done since she was a small child, wanted him to tell her that everything would be alright.

She wanted to run to Kasumi and wanted her to kiss her brow and get all the tender, motherlike attention from her she could. She wanted to talk to Nabiki and tell her all was forgiven, wanted to hug her sister and chat about boys.

And most of all she wanted Ranma to hug her again. Wanted a kiss from the man she loved – her first kiss, their first kiss. She wanted to tell him she loved him, wanted to feel his lips on hers, wanted to stop wondering what it would feel like. But she knew that was selfish so she suppressed the desire. But maybe at least a hug? Warm arms encircling her and the feeling of infinite safety and protection that even her father couldn't give her anymore.

It was easy to put something in Ranma's tea that would put him to sleep. She knew he'd been keeping watch on her from the roof, had felt his ki brush against hers – but tonight that couldn't happen. Everyone else slept well anyway so there was no need for forcing them to bed.

She fisted her hands slightly to resist her innate desires to be selfish and ask someone else to deal with all this. Eighteen was old enough to deal with these things, she reminded herself sternly.

All too soon everyone was in bed.

With quiet, efficient movements, Akane took her backpack out of her wardrobe and put the letters for her family and friends onto the side cupboard. She stifled a sob that threatened to escape her and looked around, mentally checking if she had done everything she needed to.

After a moment's hesitation she left her pack and snuck into Ranma's room.

Her hand rose on its own accord, shakily caressing his cheek and putting a stray hair aside. She only had one picture of him – had never thought it necessary to take pictures of him, of them. She regretted that now.

"I love you, Ranma."

She suppressed a sniffle as tear ran down her face, leaning over Ranma to press her lips to his cheek in a soft, feather light touch, before going back to her room.

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"I love you, Ranma."

Frowning, Ranma fought against the drowsiness and shook the sleep off himself long enough to look around his room. No one here. He could've sworn... Checking, he found Akane's ki in her room, where it should be.

Shrugging to himself and putting it off as a figment of his imagination, sleep claimed him again rather quickly as the sleeping drugs refused to release their hold on him too early.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ranma, would you please go wake Akane up?" Kasumi looked at the boy expectantly.

"Why is it always me?"

Despite his words, Ranma was standing up already and on his way to her room.

"'Kane, hey, Akane" He knocked on her door several times. Frowning, he knocked again before announcing that he would enter now.

To his surprise the room was empty. Shrugging off the bad feeling he walked down, guessing that she'd simply gone for an extended morning jog.

Checking the shoes at the front door he found hers still there, just next to his. The feeling increased. Something was wrong, very wrong.

He walked back into the kitchen.

"Hey, Kasumi, Akane is not in her room and her shoes are still here. Any ideas?"

The eldest daughter looked up in surprise, before looking contemplative.

"Oh my. Could you check the dojo, please, Ranma? I will check her room again."

With one smooth, graceful movement Kasumi lifted herself to her feet and moved in the direction of Akane's bedroom. Her sister had behaved rather oddly last night.

It only took Kasumi a second scan of the room before she noticed the envelopes on her night table. The one on the top was addressed to Ranma but she quickly found one addressed to herself.

Dearest Kasumi,

I apologise for making you worry in advance. I love you very, very much. I don't think I ever thanked you for taking on so many responsibilities upon mum's death, even though you were still young yourself. Thank you for taking care of me for all these years. I will miss you terribly.

I am sorry for leaving, I hate to do this to you and everyone else but I can't see any other options. I was told in no uncertain terms that you would be killed if I did not leave, as would Nabiki. Neither of you have sufficient martial arts skills to defend yourself and I am not stupid enough to think I could remain around you 24/7 – nor could Ranma, for that matter.

So please believe me when I say I love you and everyone else above all else.

I will be fine but cannot have any further contact with you or the others. I hope you marry a handsome man (maybe a certain doctor), have lots of children and the life you always wanted. You will make a fantastic mother, you were one for me.

I love you, always.

Akane

For a moment the eldest sister simply stared at the familiar handwriting of her sister. Surely she wouldn't do something so stupid?

Then she cursed herself, of course she would. Akane was gone.

Wiping away the tears she grabbed the other letters and ran down to bring the news to the rest of her family and to allow them to read their own letters.

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Ranma stared at the unopened envelope in front of him, as the Tendo's broke down into tears around him. He'd known. He'd known something was wrong. He should've done something, challenged her, stopped her. Something, anything.

His fist crashed into the floor in his anger, but neither he nor anyone else took note, wrapped up in their own grief.

Biting his lips, hard, he opened the envelope.

Ranma,

I am not sure how to start this letter. Dear Ranma? Dearest Ranma?

Nothing's ever simple with us, is it? I mean, look at how we started out: you were female and won against me in the one thing I was proud of excelling at: Martial Arts. Then we see each other naked, insult each other, get engaged to one another against our will and pushed together at every turn by your father and mine. It's a miracle we get along as well as we do.

And you have defended and protected me against everyone even at the risk of your own life.

God, this letter is a mess. I apologise. I don't know how to organise my thoughts, so bear with me.

To tell you the truth, I kind of enjoyed fighting with you; it made my pulse race and adrenaline rush through my system. It was fun when it didn't get out of hand.

I apologise for calling you a pervert and other names on occasion. I know you aren't, we simply have the worst luck and I don't have the patience to hear you out before jumping to conclusions; I can admit that much.

The reason I am leaving is because I cannot fight this enemy. The problem is not only my skill level but the fact that my sisters are involved. Neither can protect themselves adequately and I fear for their lives. I know you would try to protect them but it would involve either killing the person who threatened this in the first place or remaining with them 24/7 for who knows how long. Neither was an acceptable or even feasible solution to me. For that I apologise.

I know you want to protect me but this time there is nothing you can do.

Please accept that I have to cut all ties to my family and you. I have left Nerima. I may leave Japan. Please do not look for me. I got daddy to sign a form that releases you from your engagement to me. There is no honour binding you to find me.

I would rather you find happiness, with whomever that may lie with for you. I know that you are young still (as am I) but this is for the future. I hope you will find someone that genuinely makes you happy.

I never had the courage to say this to you when you are awake and I apologise for not telling you in person but I see no other solution at this point in time. I love you. I have loved you since the moment you tried to cheer me up after Kasumi visited Dr. Tofu. Well, it was more infatuation at that point but it grew into love.

I hope you forgive me for not telling you sooner. I thought we still had time. I thought there was time to explore how you felt, to see if there was something between us. Now we will never have the chance. I regret that.

I hope you continue on your path as the best martial artist I have ever met. I will certainly continue on mine, though I have a lot to catch up on. I hope you grow old, have a family and train other people in the way of the martial arts and the way of honour.

Please be happy.

Love, always,

Akane

Ranma glared at the letter in his hand. What gave her the right? Confessing her love and then leaving – a cowards way out. His hand clenched and he frowned.

He needed to find her. Fast. She was his tomboy and there was no way he was letting her go just like that.

Mind made up, Ranma quickly found his shoes and after a short moment, her father, his father and his mother joined him, deciding to separate for the search so they could cover more ground quicker.

Nabiki would be phoning all her contacts in an attempt to find their youngest sister. Kasumi, very well known in the entire neighbourhood, phoned all the people she knew to look for information.

Unfortunately, whilst Akane's false trails were not particularly successful in and of themselves they were sufficient to distract for a couple of hours each time. It was hard to figure out where she really had gone for by the time they found the right trail, it had gone cold.

They finally figured out she'd gone south, to Kyoto and Osaka. From there the trail went cold entirely. It took them another few weeks to figure out that she had changed her hair colour and dressed as a boy with a hat and glasses – and that was only by chance.

Akane, however, remained missing. Despite extensive searches, investigations and money spent, Akane was never found.

However, she did return to Nerima - four years later.

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Righto, let me know what you guys think. I was thinking of only having two more chapters to this story. The second one is currently with my beta for review!

Cheers,

PepperonyOwl