This is a story I previously put on here a while back. I've been doing grad school for a while and havent has the time to work on it in a while, but hopefully things will change this semester after I take prelims... In the meantime I've been re-writing and working on the formating and spelling. I hope you enjoy.

TL

Ramna ½: A Wedding TLLong

Disclaimer: I don't own it. It ain't mine. Don't sue me, I already owe to much money as it is.

Chapter 1

"But in your dreams whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me."
-Dream a Little Dream, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

Ranma awoke with a start; arms and legs flailing wildly, they instinctively reached out for something solid to hold on to. His hands found the blanket, as he sat up, It's real, he thought. Ranma drew in a deep breath.

"It was a dream," his shoulders rolled forward as his head slumped between his knees, "Just a dream." But what dream? Ranma desperately tried to hold on to it, grasp a mental picture in his head that would anchor the dream in his mind. Yet the harder he tried to remember it the faster it seemed to slip away.

"Happen again?" His father hunched down as he rolled up his sleeping mat, to put it away for the day. "You know that's the third time this week."

"Yeah, I know," Ranma said, as he looked down at his hands. He was griping the covers so tight that his knuckles were white.

"Still can't remember it?"

"No, Pop, I can't. It goes away as soon as I wake up."

"Ranma, I can not allow this to continue," Genma said, stepping on his son's neck, and forcing his head back down into the futon. "A true martial artist faces his fears. I order you to go to the dojo and meditate on your dreams until you can figure out what has gotten you so terrified. It pains me to know that I have such a coward for a son..."

A sudden splash of water from the pail that Ranma kept at his bedside just for such tirades initiated a premature finish to Genma's speech. "For someone who won't go home because he's afraid of mom, you ain't got much room to speak, pop," Ranma bit as he stood up to walk out of the room, flipping his father onto his back in the process.

He had to leave, and soon, before he lost his temper. He lost it for the first time, in his battle with Saffron. That is truly lost it. So angry that he still could not remember the details of the fight; and the result terrified him. There was no way he would place himself in anything remotely akin to that situation again.

The panda behind him cringed, cuddled his favorite ball and held up a sign. That's not fair! Your dreams don't have sharp pointy swords!

"Whatever," Ranma said as he closed the door.

Akane lounged at the table with her father and sisters, as the three sat down for breakfast. She sat quietly, not really eating but rather pushing her rice around her bowl. Her mind had been reeling since their return from China, full of questions, thoughts, but more importantly, feelings that were floating around her head in a jumble, trying to form thoughts and sentences. It did not help that Ranma had been avoiding her of late. Akane didn't know why but over the course of the past few days he had not said more than a handful of words to her. The resulting silence had finally permeated the rest of the household, as the other Tendo's sat and quietly ate, except for Nabiki, who with pen and paper was diligently pouring over the family's expenses. Soun read his paper while he ate, wanting to break the silence, but not sure exactly how, being the only male in a family of females

"Nabiki," Kasumi said, "Have you decided where you will be attending school next year?"

Nabiki looked up from her accounts and figures, "Not yet, both Kyoto and Tokyo have great programs, but my third choice has offered more scholarships than those two."

"Oh," Soun said, looking up at her from the top of his folded down paper. What school could possibly compete with Kyoto and Tokyo? Things might have changed a bit, but weren't those the two best schools in the nation? "And what school might this be Nabiki?"

"Harvard," Nabiki scribbled another figure in her ledger, "They are offering me 780,000 more yen a semester to attend there."

"Harvard," Soun said, slamming his paper into the table, "But isn't that in the States?"

"Gee," Nabiki lifted her eyes off of the ledger for a moment, "and all this time I though it was in Okinawa, Silly me."

"Goodness," Kasumi said, covering her mouth with her hand, "why would you want to go so far away?"

"Because, it has the best School of Business," Nabiki scribbled another figure into her ledger.

"But won't you loose all of your connections here in Japan?" Kasumi asked as she poured her father a cup of coffee.

Nabiki cocked her head to the side for a moment. In Japanese business, one's personal connections were infinitely more important than any other resource one might possess. Losing those connections while studying abroad might seriously handicap her future. "I've thought about that, but there is also a good possibility that I could get a job with an American firm trying to break in to the Japanese market. And in an American firm I would be advanced based on my merits, not by my hire date. So even though going to a Japanese school would be more stable, Harvard might have a greater payoff."

"My Nabiki is going to go away to the States," Tears poured out of Soun's eyes, "and Akane's getting married. Soon I'll be old and alone in this big house by myself."

Nabiki rolled her eyes, "I never said I was going for sure, I just said that it was an option."

Kasumi coughed, it was time to change the subject. "Akane, how is Ranma? He looks like he hasn't slept very well over the past few days."

Kasumi's question was followed by the sudden snap of Akane's chopsticks breaking. "I don't know," she said, as she sprang to her feet, "the jerk won't talk to me anymore. As far as I'm concerned, he can just go rot. It's not like I give a damn about that Pervert anyway."

Akane whirled around to stop out of the room, only to find Ranma standing in the doorway, a pained look upon his face. "Ranma, I'm..." she said, suddenly unable to meet his gaze. Ranma didn't say a word; instead he stepped past her and out the door to the back yard.

He didn't even call me an un-cute tomboy, Akane thought as a worried look crept up on her face.

"No," Nabiki said her pencil scribbling in a fluid motion, "it's not like you care at all."

A single bead of sweat rolled towards the tip of Ranma's nose as he rebounded off the north wall from a spinning crescent and landed in a crouch in the center of the dojo. Drawing in several ragged breaths he watched as the drop fell to the floor. Akane was right, Ranma thought back to all the times she had asked him to spar with her.

"Damn it Ranma, hold still!" she had said, throwing punches at him wildly as he flipped about her, "How am I supposed to relieve stress when you won't even fight me?"

A slight smile creped into his cheeks, This does relieve stress. Sweat seeped out of Ranma's skin, cleansed the impurities from his soul, as his anger, self doubt, hurt and sadness washed through his pores, leaving his mussels limp and tired.

I'm ready, he thought as he rocked back onto the floor, crossing his legs in front of him, now let's see if I can work this dream business out.

Ranma closed his eyes, and slowly turned off his senses one by one. The world was an externality, a distraction. There was no great enemy to face this time. No heroic battle. It was just himself, the only person Ranma had not faced during his stay at the dojo. The one person he had yet to defeat. And so, Ranma turned his minds eye to the inside, and prepared to do battle with himself. His mind so enthralled by the trance that he never heard the door to the dojo close.

Akane walked back to the kitchen, as quiet as she could manage so as not to disturb Ranma. She knew that he would be annoyed if he had noticed her watching him, but she couldn't help it, she was worried. He's changed since Saffron, she thought, her head bowed slightly as she stepped. Her eyes wandered back for a moment to the dojo, Ranma, why won't you talk to me about this?
"Hello, Lover," a feminine voice whispered from behind Ranma, as a small pair of hands slid past his shoulders and over his chest. "I've been waiting for you."

Ranma instinctively pushed out of the girl's arms, and backed away before Akane walked in and clobbered him. "What the... Shampoo... Who?" Ranma asked, turning around to face the intruder for the first time. He was half expecting to see Shampoo's purple hair and lithe form standing before him, a surprise glomping or embrace had her handy work all over it. Instead standing before him was a petite girl with red hair, and blue eyes; wearing a red Chinese shirt and black pant outfit identical to the one Ranma was wearing. It was his girl half. "You! But how did you get back out? Cologne said that that the sunlight caused us to merge back into one," Ranma's eyes narrowed into little slits, "The old man hasn't been playing around with that soul splitting incense again has he?"

Ranma-chan guffawed as she walked across the room, "Have we really become that paranoid over the past two years?" Sitting down in front of Ranma she cocked her head to the side and thought for a second, "But then with all we've been through who could really blame us?"

"Then why did you come here?" Ranma asked, shifting back to a sitting position.

"I didn't" Ranko smiled sweetly, "you came here looking for me, Lover."

"What? Why would I come looking for you, I mean me... I mean... Whatever."

"That's easy," a coy smile drifted onto Ranko's face, "you came looking for me because I've been trying my damnedest to get your attention for the past few weeks. You're almost as thick headed as Akane thinks we are, did you know that?"

"Get my attention?"

"Lord, Lover, what did you think the dreams were for?"

"I don't know," he said, "I don't remember them when I wake up."

Ranko raised one eyebrow, "Really? Well in that case you and I have a lot to do," she said as she stood to her feet. With her small hands she reached out, grasped Ranma's wrist, and pulled him up.

"Hey where are you taking me," he said as she pushed him through the dojo door.

"Don't worry, Lover" she replied, "I've got something I want to show you."

Kasumi stood at the sink, washing the breakfast dishes, when she noticed her sister walk in. She had the 'storm cloud' look again, at least that had become Kasumi's pet name for this particular mood, when Akane became so frustrated and angry that you could see the lightning flash behind her eyes. "Akane, what's wrong?" Kasumi asked, hoping that the answer to whatever was behind that look didn't involve any type of food preparation on Akane's behalf.

"Nothing" Akane said, her eyes never once rising to meet her sisters as she walked to the refrigerator. She opened it slowly, reached in and grabbed a bottle of milk, hesitated for a second, and then returned it back to its place on the shelf. Without saying a single word, she strode across the kitchen, towards her sister. Her arms wrapped around Kasumi's waist, as Akane buried her head in her older sister's chest, and cried. Kasumi stood for a moment in silence, not knowing what to say, doing the only thing she could think of, and held her little sister while she sobbed uncontrollably.

Ranma and Ranko stood in the middle cave. Ranma was doing his best to control his anger, and was failing miserably as he yelled at his girl half, "This is Saffron's cave isn't it? What in the hell are we doing here."

"I told you," she replied coolly "I want to show you something."

"What could possibly be so important that you would have to drag me all the way back..."

"This," Ranko pointed, across the cave to a heap of blue and white in the corner.

"Oh, God, no." he breathed, as he pushed past Ranko and dashed towards the other side of the cave. His apprehension grew with each step that he took as his mind struggled to process the new information his eyes were receiving. The first thing he noticed was a shoulder, then two feet covered by Mary-Jane's. By the time that he could see the short hair, he already knew it was Akane. He reached out to touch her, hold her in his arms, but she was cold. "Akane wake up," he said as he took her into his arms. She wasn't breathing. He shook her hard, "Come on Tomboy, you can't do this to me." Her head rolled limply to the side, "You can't do this to me; you can't leave me." Tears dripped from his eyes and onto her cheeks as he cradled her in his arms.

"Hurts don't it, Love?"

Ranma gently laid Akane back on the ground, while his aura manifested around him, cold as ice. "You already know the answer to that," he said, spinning around faster that one would think possible.

Akane was dead, it was his fault, and she was gloating about it. He wanted to hurt her, make her suffer like he was suffering, and so he attacked. With a cold, calculating fury he probed her defenses, looking for an opening, but finding none. His girl half was more agile, slightly faster, and better at dodging then his boy half. Ranma would kick, only to find Ranko had moved out of range, he would punch only to have it blocked. "Why did he have to do it? Why couldn't he just back down? I didn't want to, but I saw her here like this and it hurt, and I couldn't stop him..."

"But why does it hurt so much?" She asked as she sidestepped a snap-kick.

"I don't know," he screamed at her, sensing an opening he lunged at her, throwing all of his weight behind the punch so as to deliver the coup de grace.

Ducking under and to the right of the blow, Ranko tapped her boy half on the shoulder, "Don't look down," she whispered in his ear, as he flew past.

"What?" he asked. Ignoring his girl half's advice, Ranma glanced at the cavern floor below him, and was quickly overcome by a falling sensation.

P-chan trailed Akane as she shambled back to her room, her breath broken by sobs, as tears trickled from her red eyes. The little black piglet was worried about her, but considering the fact that he had been in love with her for the past two years, his concern was not all that surprising. There was a pattern to their relationship, Akane and Ranma would get into a fight, her fiance would say or do something that upset her, and P-chan would follow her back to her room to console her. Sometimes she would yell and scream about what a jerk he was, others she would cry into her pillow. No mater what the result though, it was constantly Ranma's fault, no one else could hurt her so badly.

Each time P-chan sat and listened to her it was as if someone had thrust a dagger in his heart and twisted the blade. Yet his pain wasn't just because she ached so badly. Rather it was that she always went back to him, no matter how much he hurt her. Tomorrow Ranma would face Kuno, Mouse, or some other slightly bent martial artist that had wondered in to town, and Akane would be there by his side, supporting him. Meanwhile, whether it is as P-chan, her pet; or Ryoga, the perpetual lost boy she called friend; he would be regulated to the sidelines, until she needed someone to help pick up the pieces again. What could he say? He loved her to much to leave, and so he followed Akane into her room, and waited for the knife to come.

"Oh, P-chan," Akane said, as she reached down to pick up the little black Piglet, "What am I going to do this time?"

"Bwee?" the piglet grunted as he nuzzled Akane gently with his snout.

"He won't even talk to me," she said as she set P-chan on her pillow, "Usually when he's angry he's yelling at me or teasing me; calling me 'un-cute', or 'Tomboy'. I get mad at him, he gets mad at me, and by morning we forget about it. He's not doing it this time."

"Bwee."

"God," she grabbed the nearest object she could find and hurled it across the room, the picture frame shattered on impact with her closet door, "It's just so frustrating."

"I hear him scream at night from the nightmares," Akane said as she collapsed to her knees, "I can hear him scream my name, so I know they are about me, but he keeps pushing me away when I ask about them."

"Bwee"

Akane looked across the room at the picture frame on the floor. It was a photo of the two of them eating at U-chan's. They were sitting at the grill, at their usual spot, for Saturday lunch. Ukyo, stood behind the counter. The chef and Ranma were carrying on an easy conversation while Akane leaned on the counter and watched. She was jealous of how he found it simple to talk to Ukyo. Their conversations seemed to come natural, flowing from topic to topic in a steady stream of words. There did not seem to be anything that he could not talk to her about. With Akane and her fiance however, it was different. The words were forced, and choppy. Even when she wanted to thank him or comfort him, their conversations developed into arguments. Only now they weren't even doing that.

"I don't think he likes me anymore," she turned around and looked back at P-chan, "maybe I should break the engagement. So that he can have someone he can talk to. Someone like Ukyo." Akane reached out, and pulled the black piglet close to her, as her eyes threatened to spill out into tears yet again.

"Bwee?" P-chan was shocked, for the past two years Akane had ranted, raved, and threatened Ranma's life, but in all that time she had never once discussed breaking off her engagement with him in their talks in her room. Sure, she had yelled it at him in public on several occasions, but in the sanctuary of her room, when she thought no one else was listening, she had never once considered the option, but now...

Akane drew in a slow breath, and sighed, "That seems to be the only thing left to do, I've tried everything else."

"Bwee," P-chan snorted in agreement.

"I'll tell him as soon as he finishes his workout," she said, gently setting the pig down on the ground before standing up. "I probably look like a mess; I should go wash up first." Akane opened the door to her room, and stepped out into the hallway. "P-chan, thank you for listening, it helped."

"Bwee" the piglet grunted, his cheeks burning bright red. This is it, he thought, When she calls of the engagement I can finally tell her how I feel. P-chan sank to the floor, giddy in his relief and joy, for the first time in two years, the knife had not come.

The cave had shifted, the ground beneath Ranma and Ranko had given way and now they were falling in what seemed to be a bottomless pit. The Saotome school of Anything Goes specialized in Arial combat, however, and the pair was still trading blows, verbally and physically as they plummeted to the earth.

"I can't believe you had the gall to show me that," Ranma said as he fired a snap kick to Ranko's temple.

"You still haven't answered my question," Ranko's hand slipped over the top of Ranma's shin. With a flick of her hand she flipped herself so that she was falling slightly above her boy-half, "Why did it hurt?"

"I told you I don't know why it hurt," Ranma's hand circled around in a ridge-hand, "It just did, ok? It's not like I've got feelings for the tomboy or anything."

"Really," Ranko arched her back slightly, as Ranma's hand missed her nose by less than half an inch. "Then how do you explain that?" Ranko asked, her hand pointing behind Ranma, just over his left shoulder. Ranma looked, and instantly comprehended that somehow his girl-half had taken him to a different location, the cavern beneath Prince Toma's Island. In the distance a scene from the past was being replayed. He was falling, with Akane on his back, towards a Spring of Drowned Man.

At the end of the fall was everything Ranma had ever hoped for. Good-by curse. Good-by being chased by Happosi. Good-by kisses from jerks on ice skates. Good-by being hounded by Kuno. Good-by being afraid every time that it rains that everyone would find out how big of a freak he actually was. Good-by "he's practically a couple all by himself." Good-by girl half. But Akane was on his back, plummeting to the same spring. If she fell in as well, she would have to experience all the hurt, pain, fear, embarrassment, and rejection that Ranma had experienced with his curse. She would be the one who cringed every time a rainstorm passed by overhead. She would be the one that everyone stared at, as they muttered words like freak, and pervert. Ranma was torn, he could let them fall towards the spring, and be cured forever, or he could destroy the spring with a chi attack, evaporating the water before they hit the ground, and keep Akane from living with his curse. When he thought about it there was not a decision to be made.

"Akane," he had screamed as he readied his ki attack, "the you that you are, is the you that I l..." the past Ranma bit his tongue, as he gathered his chi in his hands. A bright blue glow shown brightly for a second, and then exploded as a beam of energy lanced from his hands into the spring below. The water buckled, and boiled as it erupted all around them. Within seconds the past Ranma and Akane had landed, dry and safe.

"How was the sentence supposed to end, Lover," Ranko asked from behind Ranma.

"The you that you are, is the you that I love." Ranma whispered quietly as his feet found the earth. The scenery shifted and he and Ranko were back in the dojo once again.

"That's why it hurts when you think of her like that." Ranko said. Ranma just looked away.

Ryoga shouldered his pack as he walked out the door to the Tendo home. As soon as Akane had left he had changed from P-chan to Ryoga using the hot water in the bathroom. Ranma always stashed his clothes in the bathroom for him while he was P-chan, making it easy for him to come and go as he pleased. Yet, if everything worked out, this would be the last time he stayed at the dojo as P-chan.

This was it, his chance, his time to tell Akane how he felt, but first he needed to acquire something. This meant that he would have to leave for a time, but when he returned he would make everything better for Akane. Don't worry my love, he thought as he crossed the threshold, I leave you now, but when I return it will be with our engagement ring.

Ranma stood in the center of the dojo with Ranko, the circle was complete, but instead of answers he found himself filled with even more questions. "So what do I do now?" he asked, his head dropping to the floor.

Behind him the door to the dojo opened. Nodoka and Genma stepped into the dojo. "You do what is honorable," his father said as he moved to Ranko's right.

"You do the right thing," his mother said, stepping between Ranma's girl-half and his father.

"You do what you want to do." Ranko said, making sure that her blue eyes caught his.

"So I should tell her how I feel then?"

"For the sake of the honor of the School of Anything Goes, Yes" Genma said, nodding his head solemnly.

"But what if she doesn't feel the same way about me?" Ranma asked. He thought back to all the times she had called him a pervert. The day they had first met, when she had called him a 'couple all by himself'. She had never been able to accept his curse. It was the thing she always teased him about, the thing that always made her uncomfortable in his presence, the thing that made him a freak in her eyes. "What if she can't accept my curse? I'm afraid she won't want me."

Nodoka laughed, "Since when has my son let his fears keep him from something that he wants?" Her hand reached out and touched her son's face, and lifted his head, so that she could see the pride in her eyes. "My son is too much of a man among men to let such a small thing as fear stop him."

"Hai," Ranma said, his jaw trembling slightly with fear and apprehension, the scenery shifted again as the walls of the dojo gave way to a thick mist. "And if she rejects me?"

"Then you've done what's honorable," Genma said as he disappeared into the mist.

"You've done what's right," his mother replied as the mist enveloped her as well.

"But most importantly," Ranko said as she began to fade, "you won't ever regret not telling her how you feel."

Ranma opened his eyes, and roused himself from his meditation. From the stiffness in his legs and the ache in his back he judged that he had been meditating in the dojo for several hours now. His mind was full of questions still, but at least now he understood what he had to do. Ranma stood to his feet and walked towards the door. He had to find Akane and soon. Before he lost his resolve.
Akane sat at her desk and waited for Ranma to emerge from the Dojo below. Her window held a perfect view of the yard, allowing her to see everything from the koi pond, to the dojo entrance. Most days she would just sit here and stare out the window, letting her thoughts drift by like the clouds in the sky, but today she could not afford that luxury. She sat staring at the entrance of the dojo, determined that Ranma would not leave without her noticing. She could not let him get by her today, she had to tell him. She had to let him go, no matter how much it hurt. And she had to do it soon, before her will caved.

The door to the dojo slid open, as a familiar pair of black pants and red shirt emerged from within. This is it, she thought as he quietly scanned the yard. She stood to her feet, turned around, and drew in a slow breath to steady her shaking knees. If she was going to do this with any amount of composure left, it would have to be done quickly, and so determined she stalked across her room, reached out to the knob, and twisted the door open.

"Hey, Akane," a voice called from behind her, "Where are you going?" Akane turned on her heels. There he was in her window, doing his best to look anywhere but in her eyes. "Look," Ranma said, his eyes finally settling on the broken picture frame on the floor, "I... that is, we need to talk."

Akane dropped to the floor, her knees buckling as her last bit of determination fled, "Hai."