Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters so don't sue me.

Akane and Ranma became the best of friends when they were kids. One day, Ranma has to continue his journey to perfect his martial arts skills leaving Akane in despair. 10 years later, Ranma came back to Nerima with a car! Read and find out how it happened! - R&R... R/A pairings

Friends Forever?

by: numbskull

Chapter 1:

12 years ago...

A man wearing a white gi stood in front of a wooden gate holding his 6-year-old son by his hand. The boy is so confused and looks at his father with a questioning look. His father took a deep breath and opened the wooden gate.

"Ojamashimasu! (polite way in saying while entering someone's property.)", his voice loud enough for someone to hear. A young girl, maybe 8 or 9 year old, greeted them. "Is your father home?", asked the man. "hai (yes). I'll call him for you. Please come inside.", the young girl said and led them in the living room.

Then, a man with a long, black hair and wearing a dark-colored gi entered the living room. As he saw the man in a white gi, he ran up to him and hugged him. "Saotome-kun! It's nice to see you again!", wailed the long-haired man. "It's nice seeing you too, Tendo-kun!", Saotome said as he hugged his long-time friend back. "Tendo-kun, I'd like you to meet my son, Ranma. Ranma, this is Soun. He is daddy's friend." Ranma looked at Soun and bowed. "Nice to meet you, sir." Soun smiled at the politeness the young boy showed. "You sure taught him well, Genma." "Of course, i did. And with the help of Nodoka, he will be the man amongst men. By the way, where's Kimiko-san?", Genma asked as he looked for Soun's wife. Soun looked down sadly and said, "She died a few weeks ago." Genma was shocked at what he heard and apologized. He looked at his son and told him to go outside to play so he could talk to Soun privately. The boy obeyed and went outside the house.

Ranma looked around the property. "This is bigger than I thought.", thought Ranma to himself. Then, one thing that caught his eye is the dojo. He peeked inside and saw a little girl with short, dark blue hair and around his age doing some kicks. She was still practicing some moves to improve her skills. She sensed that someone's been watching her and looked at the direction where the peeking boy is.

"Who are you?", asked the angry girl. Ranma backed away a little and gulped. "I'm Ranma. Saotome Ranma." The girl walked towards Ranma and observed him carefully. "Why are you here? Are you daddy's new student?", asked the girl. "Uhmm...well, I'm not here to be a student but my Pop just visited his friend here. Are you his student?", Ranma asked getting a bit uncomfortable with the girl's presence. "No. I'm his daughter, Tendo Akane.", Akane said and tightened her belt. "Do you know martial arts?", she asked while adjusting her belt. "Y-yeah. A little.", said Ranma looking at the floor. "Do you wanna spar?", asked Akane getting a bit excited. "N-no. I-I don't hit g-girls.", Ranma stuttered. This made the girl angry and attacked him with a punch. "What are you doing?!", asked Ranma as he dodged her punches. "Sparring and letting out my anger to you because you don't want to spar with me coz I'm a girl!", Akane said as she launched a flurry of punches. "You're a tomboy!", Ranma blurted out. Akane stopped and her anger goes beyond her limit. "What did you say?!" Akane attacked Ranma again as he dodges every punch and kick. "i didn't mean it! I'm sorry!", Ranma said successfully dodging the attacks. They fought and fought until they both fell on the dojo's floor.

Back inside the house, the two adults finished talking about Kimiko's fate. Both are saddened for the loss of someone close to them. "Do your daughters know about this?", Genma asked sadly. Soun took a sip of his tea and said, "Only Kasumi and Nabiki. I didn't let Akane know for she is too young." Genma stared at his friend sadly. "What did you tell her?" "I told her that her mother's away on a trip.", Soun said. Genma shook his head and placed his hands on Soun's shoulders. "Tendo-kun, I think it is better if you tell her the truth. It will hurt her more if she finds out later on." Soun looked sadly at his friend and nodded, "I think you're right, Saotome-kun. I cannot bear to see my precious baby to get hurt and get angry at me. I'll talk to her about this right now." Soun stood up and went to the dojo to call his daughter. Genma followed right behind him.

The two children laid down on the floor, too exhausted to stand up. Akane looked at her companion and smiled, "You're pretty good." Ranma looked back and smiled, "You're pretty good yourself, too." "I never had a work out like this before. Daddy wouldn't train me anymore since mom left on a trip.", Akane said sadly as she remembered her mother. "What's the matter?", Ranma asked as he is concerned. "I miss my mom. I wonder where she'll come back.", Akane said as she imagined herself being hugged by her mother. "Don't worry. She'll be back. No mother can be away from her children for too long.", Ranma smirked. "You really think so?", Akane said with a glimpse of hope in her eyes. "I know so. Pop said mom couldn't take her hands off me when Pop and I left.", Ranma said reassuring Akane about her feelings. Akane's smile became wider and stared at the ceiling. "You know, your mom will be proud of you because she's got a tomboy daughter to protect her!" Now Ranma did it this time. He destroyed the good mood and received something drastic from the girl glowing with anger.

We see Ranma sitting on the floor with a red mark on his cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I just have this condition that I say something I don't really mean.", Ranma said apologetically. Akane took a deep breath and said while not looking at him, "It's okay." Then, Akane's eyes shone suddenly. "Ne Ranma, I thought about something and I'd hope you'd agree." Ranma looked at her with confusion and asked, "What idea is that?" Akane's smile grew more and sat near Ranma. "I was hoping we could be friends. Do you want to be friends?" Akane asked as she offered her hand for a hand shake. Ranma stared at her hand for a moment and smiled. "Yeah, sure."

The sound of an opening door was heard in the dojo and the two children looked at who just entered. Akane saw her father enter with a guy in a white gi. She ran up to her father and hugged him, "Daddy! I made a friend today! His name is Ranma and he is a good martial artist like me! We sparred a while ago!", Akane said excitedly. Soun smiled sadly at his daughter and placed his hand on her head. "I see. It's good that you've made friends with daddy's friend's son." Akane nodded. Soun cleared his throat and took Akane in his arms. "Akane, daddy has something important to tell you and promise me that you won't get angry." Akane looked confused but nodded in the end. Genma walked towards his son to fetch him.

Genma took Ranma inside the house. The, he saw Kasumi cleaning the table. "Kasumi-chan, could you please tell us where your spare room is. I think we'll be staying here for a while." Kasumi smiled and led them to their room.

As Ranma finished unpacking his things, he noticed that something's wrong with his father. He approached him and looked at him curiously. Genma took notice of his son's curiosity and saw how concerned he was, he flashed Ranma a smile. Ranma smiled back and hugged his father. "Don't worry, Pop. Everything's gonna be okay like you always say." Genma was touched by his son's words and hugged him back. "I know, son. I know."

After the dramatic scene, Genma left the room to get something to drink. Ranma, the little adventurous martial artist, decided to go on the roof. He wanted so much to try that but Genma won't let him. This time, his father's not around. He looked outside the window to find something that will support him while climbing up the roof. He successfully climbed the roof and searched for a place to lay down. He found a comfortable place with a nice view of the sunset. "So beautiful.", he whispered to himself.

As he was getting in touch with the scenery, he heard something. "Are those sniffles?", he thought. He couldn't quite put out where it came from. When he heard it again, he realized that it came from beneath the roof. He crawled on the edge of the roof and carefully tried to position himself upside down. To his amazement, he saw that it is a room. Probably a child's room because it looks like one. He tried to get a better look at who's making those sounds when he lost his hold on the roof's edge and fell on the veranda. Ranma grabbed hold of his aching head and felt a bump. He winced at the pain it caused. Then, he noticed that the sniffles stopped and footsteps are getting louder. The window opened and as he looked up to reveal the person who's making those sniffling sound, he saw the girl who he sparred with.

END.

numbskull: Well, I'm back people! It's been a while since I wrote something. Anyway, I hope you like my story. Have you noticed that Genma's portraying a responsible father? I kind of felt sorry for him because he always portrays the irresponsible father, which is true in the anime. I made him different in this story so please don't burn me with your flames. I have a good reason why I made him like that. Most of the characters are OOC here. This story is sort of like an AU. Do you get me now? And the name Kimiko for Akane's mother is somewhat famous in a lot of fanfictions and I don't really know if that's really her mother's name. Anyway, I'll see you again on the next chapter.