Author's Notes This will be my first continuation, so please let me know what you think. By the way, I don't own any of these characters. At least, I think I don't and that would be why I have a gas-eating car and always eat at Taco Bell. (I love Taco Bell!). Enjoy!

Chapter One: What's This?

Akane and Ranma were arguing again. About what, no one knew for sure, but it may have had something to do with the fact that earlier, Shampoo had been hanging all over Ranma. One could wonder why Akane was so… jealous, but for the author's safety, we will not wonder overmuch about that.

"…stupid macho chick like you!" Ranma concluded his tirade angrily.

"Ranma you jerk!" Akane yelled, and stormed back to the classroom. She dropped unceremoniously onto her chair and commenced staring at the blackboard.

Outside, Ranma was defending himself against a crowd of boys.

"What's wrong with Akane, Ranma?" They chorused at him.

"If you don't want her, leave her to one of us!" Another yelled as the rest cheered in agreement.

"You guys just don't understand," Ranma growled. That said, he jumped into a tree to brood out of sight of his accusers.

Back in the classroom, Akane had laid her forehead on crossed arms, so she wouldn't have to look at anyone coming in the room. This suited Gosunkugi just fine. He crept almost silently into the room, holding a knotted, multicolored cord in one had tightly.

-Now I can make Akane-sama love me!- Gosunkugi thought to himself. He stood next to Akane and held the wish cord, or himokimo, as it was sometimes called in his left hand, and was just about to make the wish for Akane to love him, when a troupe of girls burst into the classroom.

"Akane! Are you alright?" Asked one.

"Do you want us to pound him into the ground like the worthless pervert he is?" demanded another.

Gosunkugi had been extremely startled at the sudden infusion of girls, and had jerked back in surprise. Sadly for him, when he did this, the himokimo flew through the air and landed on Akane's desk.

"It's alright guys," came her muffled voice. She sat up slowly smiling a little sadly, "I've just got to ignore him. What's this?" She had picked up the wish cord.

-Nooo! - Gosunkugi thought desperately. He had backed away from Akane and to his desk so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention from the girls, but now he struggled with the urge to jump forward and rip his himokimo from Akane's hands.

"Well, anyways," she continued, dismissing the cord as unimportant, "I wish things were better between us, but they are not." She sighed. (It is now 1:55 pm, the time will be important later).

Gosunkugi felt his jaw dropping. –Crap! It can only be used once! Oh no! And she doesn't know about the conditions either!- A himokimo could only be made once by any given person, once they made one, they were not allowed another. They also took lots of time, effort, and attention. He would never get another chance. No one, going through all that work, would simply give one up to him.

-One wish for months of effort… and I didn't even get to make my wish!- Gosunkugi stared dejectedly at his notebook. –Ah!- he thought suddenly as he remembered something else, -now poor Akane-sama will have to suffer for a time! Oh no…- Another definite rule of the himokimo was that things for the wisher would have to get worse before they got better. Sometimes much worse. Gosunkugi had prepared himself for that; he had been willing to suffer for years if he must, as long as his dear Akane-sama would eventually love him! Things between Ranma and Akane seemed stormy before, but things were going to be more than thunderous now. And Akane would be the one to suffer until the wish ran its course. There were all sorts of other things that could happen relating to the time of the wish and the person's present mood, it was a very complicated piece of work!

-Akane,- he thought, -please be okay!- Gosunkugi had been thinking about all this as recess ended and students started coming back into the room. Akane discovered the himokimo again, and discarded it. Gosunkugi made no move to retrieve it, it was just a worthless piece of knotted string now.

Ranma, who had felt no change during his brooding in the tree, now strode into the room and dropped into his seat next to Akane, in front of Gosunkugi. He was scowling, and didn't even glance at Akane. She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, with a faint expressing of worry on her face. He ignored her. She frowned and turned her attention to Miss Hinako and the day's lesson.

After school, Akane waited for Ranma, as usual, so they could walk home together. He passed by her without looking at her.

"Ranma, wait for me!" she exclaimed, hurrying to catch up.

Ranma rounded on her angrily, "I don't want you near me, bitch!" he yelled at her. Akane, eyes wide, backed up and ran into a telephone pole. He was radiating fury. Suddenly, he pulled back his fist. Akane ducked, and he punched the phone pole. It broke, showering Akane with splinters. He looked down at her cowering from him and sneered. "Slut. Ugly. Bitch!" He spat, and continued towards the Tendo home once more.

Gosunkugi, watching from a safe distance away, winced and started towards home, planning to look up every scrap of information ever found on the himokimo. He had to fix things before Akane got hurt.

A few minutes after Gosunkugi had left Ryoga Hibiki found, er… happened upon Akane (we all know Ryoga can't even find the empty lot behind his house, so he didn't really find her, even if he was looking for her. Which he could have been).

"Akane Tendo?" Ryoga asked confusedly.

Akane, who until this point, had been sitting with her back against the remainder of the pole and her eyes on her lap, glanced up warily.

"Ryoga?"

"What happened here?" He asked, taking in the broken pole and Akane's disheveled appearance.

Akane, rightly guessing that Ryoga would get extremely angry if he knew this was Ranma's doing replied with, "Um… Kodachi…"

"Ah. That crazy ribbon freak." He nodded to himself, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just need to lie down or something."

"Let me escort you home, ok?" Ryoga suggested tentatively.

"Alright." Ryoga helped Akane to her feet, and she led the way home, Ryoga pacing steadily beside her.

"Well, thanks for walking me home." Akane was staring at the ground.

Ryoga didn't want to leave her like this, "Akane," he began hesitantly.

"Thanks again, Ryoga," with that, she slipped in the gate and shut it firmly behind her.

-What could Kodachi have done?- Ryoga wondered vaguely, and started walking in the direction of Ucchan's (or so he thought…).

Akane hugged her schoolbag to herself and started thinking. –A quick bath, then bed… Oh! What about dinner? I'll grab something and take it up to my room. I'll say I have a headache or something.- With that decided, Akane felt better.

"So," came a cold male voice from behind her, "I'm away from you for what, five minutes, and you are already all over another guy? You slut!" Akane, who had just started walking to the house, froze in place at the sound of his voice. She was scared. She dared to look behind her. Ranma was leaned almost casually against the wall by the gate, his arms were folded over his chest, and his foot was tapping a slow rhythm.

"He was just wal-" she tried to tell him.

"None of your excuses, whore!" he cut her off immediately. "I guess I'll have to teach you something about staying faithful," he advanced on her, slowly. Akane ran. Ran as hard and fast as she could, heading towards the safety of her eldest sister, Kasumi. Akane reached the domain of Kasumi, and was relieved to see her sister cooking dinner.

-Good, something normal. I don't think I can tell her what is happening yet. At least I'll be safe with her.-

"Can I help you with anything, Kasumi?" Akane asked.

"If you would get the plates and tableware and set all that up, I'd appreciate it," Kasumi smiled warmly at her little sister.

"Okay." -I really hope he's not out here.- Akane, carrying her first load of six plates and six pairs of chopsticks, found that Ranma was indeed in the dining room when he tripped her. She fell forward, dropping the plates, which shattered, and she landed in the shards.

"Let that be a lesson to you, bitch," Ranma muttered as he disappeared from the scene.

"Akane! Oh goodness, are you ok?" Kasumi moved to help Akane up.

"I tripped," she lied. She stood with her sister's help, wincing at the many abrasions on her arms, hands and knees.

"Looks like you aren't hurt to badly. Here," she led Akane to a stool in the kitchen and handed her a damp rag, "sit here and clean yourself up, I'll get the plates."

"Thank you."

While Kasumi was fetching the broom, Ranma entered the kitchen. He put a hand on Akane's right shoulder. "Don't tell anyone, or else," he purred into her ear. Akane, almost to frightened to move, was able to nod. He squeezed her shoulder hard enough to bruise, and left.

Akane stood, dropping the towel.

"Akane?" Kasumi asked.

"I'm just gonna go to bed now. I'm not feeling that great. Goodnight."

"Goodnight then, dear," Kasumi returned to sweeping up broken glass.

Once in her room, Akane locked the door, the window, and pulled the curtain shut. Safe now, she changed into pajamas and got into bed.

"I don't understand…" she whispered quietly, and cried herself to sleep.

Just before midnight

Ranma was sitting in the cleft of a tall tree, watching the dark square of glass that led to Akane's room. He'd really have to do something about her, she couldn't be left alone, that slut. The clocks all around the city were now softly chiming midnight.

-What the? What am I doing here?- Ranma wondered. –What the heck did I do all day? I don't remember anything that happened after Akane and I fought. I meant to apologize… I'll see if I did tomorrow.- He realized that he was staring at Akane's window. –I'd better move before she decides to kill me for 'peeping,' or whatever.- He jumped down from the tree, and into his window. He settled himself on his futon, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Author's Notes

Edit 1/3/05

I have gotten several reviews that basically complain about this: "Akane's not like that." Well, I have one thing to say to you: "In my story, she is like that." This story can be considered a bit of an Alternate Universe, but I didn't select that category cuz they still live in the same city and are basically the same people. No one has yet complained about how Shampoo acts (that happens in ch 2 or 3). How do you know Akane won't react like this? Does something like this actually happen in the manga or the anime? I don't know about the anime for sure (I've only seen about ½, and have no interest in seeing the rest, but I own and have read all of the manga. She gets discouraged too sometimes.

I have made the characters react in ways that are convienent for my story, if you don't like it, I'm sorry, I wrote it mostly for myself because I was feeling creative and all that. I sometimes have trouble drawing the Ranma characters, and all the drawings I have so far are only sketches, that's why they aren't up on mediaminer.

So, I have given you my reasons for why Akane acts the way she does, if you sincerely want to argue about it some more, you can email me.

Continuing with original authors notes:

So. How was the first chapter? After reading all (and I mean all!) of the Ranma ½ manga, I was inspired to write a fanfiction (that happened with Magic Knight Rayearth as well). I racked my brain for hours trying to come up with something (when I want to write, which happens occasionally, I really want to write!), but with no luck. Later that day, the idea of an accidental wish gone wrong popped into my head, and I stuck with it. This will be my first continuation fic that I have actually published (the others aren't anime/manga related, but not finished either (and I probably won't finish them)).

I appreciate all reviews (except flames, though I adore fire), and the more I get, the faster I will upload new chapters. That is part of the reason I am first writing everything (as in on paper!) first, so I can write whenever I am inspired, and wherever I am! Please review and tell me what you think!

10/30/04 Happy Halloween!