I don't own Ranma 1/2.

This is just a one-shot story idea I had and if it resembles anything similar then that is simply coincidence cause I thought of it this morning at around 6:30 AM before I left for work. I just finished it and it is the first thing I have written for Ranma so it may not be the best story ever, but I like it. Please enjoy and please don't flame me. R&R please.

It had been two years since Akane left for college. Two years since her family had seen her last.

Two years since Ranma had seen her last.

He can still remember the day he stood there in front of the Tendo training hall as she was preparing to leave.

Akane was dressed in a nice white sundress with yellow flowers scattered on it. It looked childlike, but she definally wasn't a child anymore. She was a young lady about to head off on her own for the first time.

Ranma just stood there as her things were packed up into the waiting taxi that would take her to the airport. She was flying to America for schooling in California. Ranma was deep in thought about how this changed things when Akane was standing in front of him.

"Ranma," she said in her kind voice, "I want you to be happy. So, I wish for you to know that I release you from our forced engagement."

Ranma's eyes widened. "Wha…"

"You can now pursue other women, and you don't have to worry about me being in the way." The taxi honked the horn getting Akane's attention, Ranma was still in too in shock to notice.

"That's my signal to get going," she said turning back to Ranma. "Good luck in breaking your curse. Good-bye."

With that Akane gave them all a brief hug, including a still surprised Ranma, and, with a wave, got into the taxi and was gone.

Ranma never told anyone about what Akane had told him. Why, he wasn't quite sure. In fact, both his father and Akane's father still thought them engaged and whenever a letter from Akane arrived they would all sit together and read it.

Now two years had passed and she still hadn't returned. A lot had changed since she had last been home.

Shampoo gave up on Ranma after Mousse finally decided to challenge Shampoo to a fight and won. Shampoo, deciding Mousse was the better choice after that, married him and they returned to China. Ranma had received a letter from them the other day saying that everything was fine and they were expecting a child soon.

Ryoga ended up working in Ukyo's shop and eventually fell in love with her and forgot about Akane. Turns out that Ukyo fell in love with Ryoga too and the two were married just last month and still hadn't returned from their honeymoon. Ranma assumed that Ryoga must have gotten them lost somewhere, but he also assumed that neither really cared.

Kuno and Nabiki began dating recently after both realizing they were attracted to each other. Even after Kuno's family lost all thier money, Nabiki still stayed with him. That was when everyone was sure it was Kuno she liked and not just the money, a very uncharacteristic move for her.

Kasumi and Dr. Tofu were married six months after Akane left and Kasumi moved in with the doctor there at his clinic with him.

Everything was going great for everyone, with the exception of Ranma.

For some reason, Akane's words had haunted him everyday since she left. I release you from our forced engagement. Every night he went to bed and thought about those words, and the person who said them.

He thought about Akane a lot in the past two years, more than he thought possible. He wondered how she was, what she was doing, and who she was doing it with. That lost thought angered him more than anything else ever could. Who was she with over there in America? What was she up to with those American boys? Was she ever going to come back?

They say that you never know what you have until you lose it, and that held true for Ranma. It wasn't until Akane was out of his grasp that he realized just how deep the depth of his feelings were for her.

It wasn't until she was gone that he realized just how much he loved her.

Ranma was training in the training hall when Nabiki rushed in all excited. "Ranma," she said in a breathless voice, "Akane is back. She…"

Ranma waited to hear no more. He was out of the training hall and in the house before he could hear another word. Once he found everyone, he wished that he had heard the rest.

Kuno, Soun Tendo, Genma Saotome, and two others were seated at the table. The first was a man, obviously American, with short blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Next to him was the most lovely sight Ranma had ever seen in the past two years.

Akane was right there next to the strange American. She was dressed in a black skirt and a white blouse. Her hair was shoulder-length now and back in a French braid. She was smiling and looked so beautiful that Ranma almost walked over to her and told her so. He started to move and do just that when he noticed something else about her.

She was wearing a diamond ring upon her finger.

"Oh, Ranma, I found you," Nabiki said from behind him, drawing everyone's attention to him. The two fathers looked shocked, Kuno looked calm yet surprised, the American looked confused, and Akane looked slightly nervous.

"Ranma," Nabiki said pulling him into the room, "Don't you want to say hi to Akane and her fiancé Jeremy?"

Fiance. The word cut through him like a sharp knife. He wanted to fight the man and hurt him as much as he was hurting, but for the sake of Akane's happiness, he didn't.

Akane seemed pleasantly surprised when he reached out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Ranma. My father and I are old friends of the Tendos."

Jeremy stood and accepted the hand. "I'm Jeremy Ackerson. It's nice to meet you, Ranma. I've heard a lot about you."

Ranma glanced briefly at Akane before looking back at Jeremy. "All good I hope," he said with a false smile.

Nabiki sat next to her boyfriend and watched with the others what looked to be an interesting dramatic event. Ranma knew that was what they wanted, and he was determined not to give it to them.

"I must apologize, but I have some training I must do before I begin planning tomorrow's lessons. Excuse me."

Ranma turned to leave, but Jeremy's eager voice stopped him. "What do you teach?"

"Martial arts," Ranma said without looking back.

"Could you teach me maybe?"

Ranma looked over his shoulder at the still surprised girl sitting on the floor. Her eyes were wide and staring at him, wondering what he was still doing in her home.

"I suppose, but I start at sunrise every morning, so if you are serious about this be in the dojo at 5 A.M."

"Thanks a lot," Jeremy called after him, but Ranma was already on his way to the dojo.

He stood in the center of the dojo and practiced. Anything to get his mind off the one who had possessed his thoughts for the whole of two years. Anything to stop thinking about the words "finace" and "diamond ring" and "wedding."

Anything to stop the pain.

He was in the middle of a swing when he felt a presence behind him. He leapt into the air and landed behind his stunned opponent. He grabbed their shoulders and turned them to him. He found himself looking into a pair of very familiar brown eyes.

"Ranma?"

He released her shoulders like he had just touched something that burned his hands. His eyes were wide in shock at the girl standing in front of him.

"Akane. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. Where are Ukyo, Kodachi, and Shampoo?"

Ranma sighed before he rubbed the back of his head. "Ukyo and Ryoga recently got married and haven't returned from their honeymoon. Kodachi moved to live with her grandmother out of town and Shampoo returned to China with Mousse, her new husband."

Akane nodded as she listened to all this. "A lot has changed," she said thinking about it all.

"Yeah," Ranma said looking at the ring on Akane's finger, "an awful lot has changed."

Akane looked up to see Ranma's rather sad look, but before she had time to analyze it, it was gone. "How has school been going? Your letters all say that everything was fine, but I…"

"You read my letters? The ones I wrote to my family?"

Ranma nodded. "We sit around and read them together."

Akane began to play with her ring, drawing Ranma's attention to it. It was a nice ring, with a good sized diamond on it. He almost sighed as he thought how much happier Akane would be with this Jeremy guy than with him. He could give Akane things that Ranma could only dream off.

"Ranma?" she said. He looked up at her face, but she was looking down at her ring. "I thought I told you that you were released from our engagement. Why are you running the dojo instead of father?"

Ranma felt a slight surge of anger rise, but he held it back. "Because, he still considers me his son."

"But, didn't you tell them…"

"Tell them what Akane?" Ranma said with a bit of anger behind his words. "Tell him that his youngest daughter dropped her chosen fiancé and ran off to America thinking that everything would be cool because said ex-fiance would just tell him the bad news for her now that she was too far away to do anything about it? I'm sorry Akane, but I was not about to break the poor man's heart."

Akane looked up at Ranma with anger shining in her eyes. "I was planning on writing to them about all this afterwards, but I assumed that you would tell them yourself. You always did seem so eager to get rid of me after all."

Ranma narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Every time we were alone, we would claim we couldn't really be engaged because it was something our parents arranged, yet whenever we didn't want to be around someone else or a situation arose where one of us, usually me, could actually be happy. The other would bring up the whole 'fiance' thing and then neither of us were happy."

Ranma sighed, slowly letting all the anger drain out of him. "You're right."

"And another thing…wait, what?"

"I said 'you're right.'"

Akane stood there in shock. Her arguments with Ranma had never varied like this. The two would argue and then both would stomp away thinking the other was wrong. She stared at Ranma, who seemed to be extremely calm and understanding. Perhaps more had changed in two years than Akane thought.

"I better get to bed," Ranma said suddenly. "If your fiancé wants to be trained tomorrow, then I have to wake up extra early to get in my early morning routines before teaching him and my other students."

Ranma turned to walk away before he stopped and looked back at Akane. He smiled a friendly smile and said, "It's good to have you back Akane." Then he walked out of the dojo.

Akane stood there for a few minutes contemplating all that had occurred with Ranma in the last few hours.

Something about him had changed, and Akane found that while it was refreshing, it was also a tad unnerving.

A wedding was planned for several weeks. Akane and Jeremy spent a lot of their time planning and making lists together.

Ranma kept the dojo running. Every morning he would wake up and go through his routines, and every morning, at exactly 5 A.M., Jeremy would show up with the other students, ready to begin lessons.

Ranma would never admit it out loud, but Jeremy was a very willing student. If he didn't get something right, he would keep at it until he had it perfected. Ranma was actually glad to know such a person, and hoped that he made Akane happy and gave her as much love as Ranma felt for her now.

About three days before the wedding, Jeremy waited until after class to speak with Ranma.

"Sensai," he said in a dignified voice. Ranma turned and smiled.

"Class is over. It's okay to call me by my name now that all the other students have left."

Ranma was carrying some training materials to place them back in the closet when Jeremy spoke again.

"I heard that you and Akane were engaged once."

The training materials hit the ground and for several seconds, Ranma said nothing. Finally he worked up enough ability to begin picking them up again and to answer Jeremy.

"We were, but that was some time ago."

"Would you mind if I asked you what happened?"

Ranma didn't say anything for several seconds, and Jeremy was about to repeat the question when Ranma spoke.

"For the longest time, we claimed that it wasn't a real engagement. It was just something our parents had arranged. After a while though, we both became jealous of other people who continuously tried to separate us.

"It seemed like the only time that we were engaged were when we were around those people, but Akane…she doesn't know that I always considered her my finace.

"I guess I should have said something before, cause when she left for college in America she told me I was released from the engagement and then she was gone."

"You love her then?"

Ranma looked up at the blond haired man currently engaged to Akane and smiled lightly. "Yeah, I love her." Ranma looked back down at the ground and then stood. "And it is because I love her that I plan to leave here after the two of you return here after the honeymoon. Akane's father would probably love it if the two of you ran this dojo together."

"It's all Akane talks about."

"Then I will keep it alive until you and she are able to run it together."

Jeremy took a step forward and placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Can I ask you something?" Ranma nodded, a confused look on his face. "Do you love her so little that you don't care to fight for her?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Ranma said in an amused voice. "Everything I do is for her happiness. If it would make her happy, I would let Kuno beat me in a fight. I would suffer the most humiliating experience ever if only to make her smile. It is because I love her more than anything that I don't challenge you to a fight. You are what makes her happy, and so you are what she shall have."

Jeremy smiled slightly at the martial artist. "I don't think I have ever met a more noble man than you Ranma Saotome."

Ranma shrugged before picking up his training materials. "Believe me, I am far from noble. I just want Akane to be happy for once."

Neither man noticed as a shadow disappeared from the doors of the dojo.

The next two days passed quickly to everyone and before they knew it, it was the day of the wedding.

Ranma was in the dojo preparing for the class he had to teach when everyone left for the church. He had told Soun that he didn't want to cancel a class because the dojo would suffer. Soun had agreed and the two had decided that since it would be awkward Ranma would stay behind. Ranma had agreed quickly before he could stop himself.

He wanted so badly to go and stop the wedding, to tell Akane that he loved her, to ask her to stay with him, but he knew that it would all be in vain.

Akane loved Jeremy, and Jeremy loved Akane. Jeremy made Akane happy, not Ranma, so for Akane's happiness, Ranma stayed away and busy.

It wasn't until after class that Ranma noticed the time. "Akane and Jeremy are probably leaving for their honeymoon right about now," he thought to himself out loud. Without warning, he fell to his knees in the quiet dojo, silent tears running down his cheeks.

The pain in his chest wouldn't go away, no matter how many times he told himself that it was all for Akane's happiness. How badly he wanted to feel her in his arms, to hold her, kiss her, love her like had always wanted to but had never done.

Ranma wiped his eyes dry and stood. There was still much to do before he could enjoy his lonely meal and then go to sleep in his lonely bed.

The door to the dojo opened, but Ranma didn't bother turning. "I'm sorry, but classes are over the day," he said in a calm voice. "Come back tomorrow."

"Ranma?"

He froze. Surely it couldn't be her? She was gone, away on her honeymoon with the man she loved. She couldn't be talking to him here. He turned toward the sound of the voice.

There she was. Akane, in a beautiful white wedding dress with her hair pinned up with flowers throughout it. The dress hugged her body like a second skin before flowing out at her hips. The dress left her shoulders bare, revealing her milky white skin to Ranma's surprised eyes.

"Akane?" Ranma said in a bewildered voice. "What…what are you doing here? Where's Jeremy?"

"Ranma, Why didn't you come to the wedding?"

Ranma looked at her confused before shaking his head. "What are you talking about? I told your father why I couldn't attend. The dojo would…"

"I know the reasons you gave my father," Akane said in a firm voice, "but I have to know for myself. Why didn't you attend my wedding today?"

Ranma looked away from the lovely vision of Akane, telling himself in his head that she wasn't his anymore.

"I didn't go because…I…didn't, no, couldn't watch you marry another man, even one as honest as Jeremy."

Akane walked over to him, but he just turned away from her. "Ranma, why?"

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your husband?"

"Please, Ranma, I have to know…"

Ranma turned to her, angry now, although he couldn't tell you why. "Know what Akane? Know that for two years you have been constantly in my thoughts? Know that when I saw you sitting there with Jeremy for the first time in two years that my heart felt like it had been ripped out? Know that I couldn't attend your wedding because I loved you too much to go and watch another take you away? Know that everything I did was for your happiness? What exactly do you want to know Akane?"

Akane held up her hands, a slight smile on her face. Ranma looked at her hands in confusion for a second and seeing nothing there prepared to start another argument. He stopped himself when he realized something important.

There was no ring on any of Akane's fingers.

"I realized something today," Akane said before lowing her hands. Ranma looked at her with wide eyes. "I realized something when I was standing up at the alter saying my vows. I realized that I was saying those vows to the wrong man. Sure he was kind, honest, and good-looking, but he wasn't the man I was supposed to marry. He wasn't you, Ranma."

Ranma was sure his heart had stopped beating, was sure that no air was getting into his lungs, was sure that this was all a beautiful dream that he would eventually wake up from.

Akane's arms wrapped around his sweaty body, like she didn't care about the expensive dress she was currently wearing.

"I love you, Ranma."

Ranma wrapped his arms around her body and held her against him. "I hope that this isn't a dream."

Suddenly he felt someone stomp on his foot, causing him to release Akane and grab the injured foot in the process. He fell to the ground, holding the food when Akane walked over to him and sat down across from him.

"Definally not a dream then," she said with a smile. Ranma looked up at her smiling face and smiled back. He pulled her into his lap and looked down into her eyes.

"Good, because I love you too Akane, and I plan on never letting you go again."

His lips covered hers as Nabiki smirked and walked away from the sweet scene with Kuno in tow.

"I told you she would pick Ranma," Nabiki said with a smile. Kuno sighed before taking a $5 bill out of his pocket and handing it Nabiki. "Thanks Kuno-baby," she said before taking his hand in hers and pulling him upstairs to her room.

THE END!