Disclaimer: Ranma and friends belong to Takahashi and Viz. Not mine. No can haz.

Prologue

Fittingly enough, it was raining.

It was only natural, and honestly, it matched her mood. After all, she was about to give up on something that had consumed her life since, well, since she could remember.

A year previous, there had been a wedding. Well, an attempt at one, anyway. There had been complications, and she herself had played no small part in that. The more she thought about it now, the more ashamed she felt about her actions. They were born of love, sure, but also of pettiness and jealousy and all the ugly baggage that comes along with unrequited love.

She twisted the handle of her umbrella between her fingers as she made her way along the streets. So much had happened since then, and a lot of it pointed to one simple fact: Ranma and Akane were destined for each other. It had been written long ago, long before she'd arrived in Nerima, long before Ranma's father had cheated her own out of his livelihood. You can't fight fate, no matter how hard you tried. It seemed the more she and the other girls had tried to drive Akane and Ranma apart, the closer they brought them together.

And now, it was time to let go.

The Tendo home was unusually quiet today, and it led Ukyo to wonder if anyone was at home. She really hated to think that she'd made her way all the way here in the rain only to find that she'd wasted the trip. She also feared that another day to think about it would cause her to have second thoughts. That it would break her resolve. In all her years of training, after renouncing her womanhood and devoting her life to revenge, she had strengthened her determination most of all. That was what made her so insistent on winning Ranma, and that was what she needed now more than anything. Now that she'd decided to concede defeat.

There was a grace to it, if she did say so herself.

She rang the doorbell, and still heard nothing from inside. Fidgeting, she looked up and down the empty street. Alone. She knew it didn't mean anything, but to her it felt like everything. All alone.

The door creaked slightly as it opened, causing Ukyo to turn her attention toward it. The smiling face of Kasumi Tendo was on the other side, shining like the sun in a storm. The older girl looked surprised to see her.

"Ukyo, hello! Are you here to see Ranma? Why don't you come in out of the rain?"

The okonomiyaki chef smiled. Kasumi had that effect on everyone. The Tendo daughter stepped aside, opening the door to let her in. Ukyo walked in and lowered the umbrella, shaking it off out the door as best she could.

"Thank you, Kasumi. And no, I'm actually here to see... Akane."

This caused the hostess to frown. "Oh my. I hope you aren't here to fight again. Though, you don't usually use the door in that case. Anyway, wait here, I'll go and get her for you." Kasumi's frown shifted into a polite smile before she headed back into the house, leaving Ukyo alone to her thoughts once again.

How do you do it? How do you face the woman you've physically attacked on numerous occasions? How do you atone for all of your schemes and tricks? Love was no excuse, "right" was a flimsy scaffolding in the face of dishonor. Ukyo rubbed her face with her fingertips, trying to steel herself. The one thing she knew she couldn't do was cry. She wouldn't give the universe the satisfaction of her tears. She didn't want pity, or sympathy. She just wanted things to be better.

Akane came around the corner, looking skeptical as usual. At least she didn't look hostile. Kasumi was a kind person, and tended to be pretty on the ball despite her airy nature. Maybe the oldest Tendo daughter detected her distress after all. Maybe she prefaced Ukyo's arrival with a disclaimer. Either way, it was good to see Akane wasn't completely on the defensive.

It was easier to do things you didn't want to when the other person wasn't automatically yelling at you.

"What are you doing here, Ukyo?" The voice was suspicious, and that was fair. Sure, she and Akane fluctuated between being okay friends and total rivals, but the crash of the wedding definitely caused a general downturn. Akane acted like she didn't want the wedding, at least not all the way. But there was something in her eyes that day that said differently. She loved Ranma, no matter how much she tried to play it off, and he loved her back just as much. It was a realization that she'd spent the better part of the past few months mulling over, sometimes to the detriment of her work. It was a realization that led her to this very moment.

And there was no turning back now.

"Akane, I..." She started, her voice catching in her throat as expected. She took a deep breath and started again. "I, umm, I just wanted you to know that you – that I, well... I'm giving up. On Ranma, I mean." Ukyo peeled her eyes from the floor just long enough to see the other girl crossing her arms. "This isn't a, um, trick or anything. I feel..." She laughed nervously, though it was really half a sob and she had to laugh to beat it down, "I feel like a real idiot, Akane. The way I've acted, the things I've done. I don't think you'll ever forgive me and, hell, I probably don't deserve forgiveness. But I just wanted you to know that I support you guys , whatever you decide to do."

The other girl considered her, for a moment. Ukyo watched Akane's eyes as the moved between various levels of confusion, fury and.. well, a lot of things, honestly. It felt like forever, and Ukyo just wished anything would happen to break the silence. Even if Akane decided to shout her back out onto the streets, into the rain, at least it would have been something.

"Ukyo, I mean... you can't really blame me if I find this hard to believe, can you?"

It was the natural question, and it was delivered with a level of calm that Ukyo wasn't accustomed to from Akane Tendo. She took it as a decent sign, if not a relief. Ukyo exhaled and decided to press on.

"No, I know, of course not. I've done a lot of stupid things, unfair things. To you and, honestly, to Ran-chan – uh, Ranma." She cursed herself for slipping into the habit of calling him by her pet name for him. She hoped that Akane would take it for the mistake it was and not some underlying sign that she wasn't being honest. Apart from a barely perceptible twitch of the eyebrow, Akane gave no indication one way or another. "But I'm serious. Anything I can do to prove it, I'm willing to do it. Even if I've got to leave town... I'll close up the restaurant and move on. I uprooted myself once, I can... I can do it again." She chewed her lip lightly. The prospect of leaving Nerima altogether wasn't an attractive one, but if honor demanded it, then she would swallow her pride and find a new place to go. It wasn't as if she was worried she wouldn't be successful elsewhere, it was just that she had come to think of this place as her home. Not that she expected Akane would ever ask that of her, but the possibility was there now. There was no taking it back.

Akane looked off to the side, as if she was considering all the options that were laid before her. She was starting to think that the other girl really believed her, and she was glad for it. It beat the alternative, and hurting Akane would only serve to further alienate herself from Ranma. She saw that now, more clearly than she ever had.

"Let me think about it." Akane's reply came, and it was about as good as Ukyo could have hoped for. Outright forgiveness wasn't really anything she'd expected any more than total banishment was. Ukyo figured she would just lay low until she got the reply. No sense in seeming desperate, no matter how desperate she was. "Let me think about it, and I'll let you know what I think we should do."

Ukyo smiled sadly and nodded. "Of course. You know where to find me. Just, don't tell Ranma about this, okay? He's such a dope, he might accidentally try to defend me and I don't want him giving you the wrong idea. He's crazy about you, Akane, you have to know that."

Akane chewed her own bottom lip now, and gave the slightest nod. "I do."

And that was that. Ukyo picked her umbrella back up and opened the door to face the downpour. She began to take a step out, but Akane's voice stopped her.

"Ukyo."

The chef looked over at Akane curiously. The girl's guard had completely dropped now, and there was a slight touch of sympathy to her voice. "If you really do mean this... thank you."

Ukyo opened the umbrella outside the door. "I do."

She cried all the way back to Ucchan's.

It was going to be a long night.