Hi, folks!

I'm just gonna put it out there: this story sucks when it comes to making everyone's life miserable. If you thought the other two and Wish were bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. The good news? It does turn out well for all of them, believe me. How many of you thought I couldn't possibly fix the eff ups in Wish, and I still did? This is the same, but worse ;)

This story will have one prologue, ten normal chapters, and then the epilogue, so please hang in there. As a token of my appreciation (and guilt for making you sad and scared with this story), I have begun a side story called Behind the Scenes. It is NOTHING like I have written before, and since everything I have written for Ranma has been angsty, I'm trying to repent my sins here by providing you a fluff-only story.

For real.

No joke.

Pure. Simple. Fluff.

So, if you need to cheer yourself up after I smack the crap out of Ranma in this story, please feel free to stop by Behind the Scenes and read something nice, easy, and happy.

Thank you again all for reviewing and sticking around until Ranma and Akane live happily ever after.

Chapter 3

As promised, Akane had hitched a ride back to the college with Satoshi, officially ending the last bit of normal interaction she and Ranma had shared until now. Needless to say, the rumors of Akane cheating on Ranma had spread like the flu, making it more difficult for Ranma to ignore the facts. His mysterious return by himself in the middle of the night coupled with Akane's late return on Sunday with Satoshi had earned him a sympathetic look from everyone, including his Introduction to Business professor when Ranma handed back the test to him, completely blank. Thankfully for him, the professor had offered him a second chance to take the test on Friday, so if he was able to do well on it, he would not ruin his opportunities of switching majors and leaving this God-forsaken campus as soon as he could.

After he had walked out of the failed test attempt on Monday, he had received a reminder text message from Akane to stop by her placed on Tuesday to rehearse their responses to the press conference they had on campus on Wednesday. Since Nabiki had been avoiding their calls since they left Nerima, they had to figure out on their own, with whatever information they received via email from the sponsors, how to approach their responsibilities outlined in the infamous contract. Thankfully for them, Ranma had been paying attention in his Law of Contracts class and had assisted them in translating the business jargon held in the dozens of foreign language instructions they had received so far about their upcoming conference. Akane, in turn, had worked in translating the documents from English to Japanese, for Ranma to then explain the already translated terms to her.

After being stuck in the library for hours studying for his test, Ranma had decided to get his meeting with Akane out of the way sooner than they had anticipated as he still had more studying to do and he could not concentrate while knowing he had to see her again so soon after their last fight about how to answer certain questions in the press conference. He sped up across the campus to reach the all-girl dormitory, ignoring the curious looks of the women standing outside said building. He remembered a handful of them asking him out after class at some point right after he moved in, and if it had not been for the contract he had to fulfill with Nabiki's marketing company, he would have asked out any of them on a date when he returned from Nerima two days ago.

He finally arrived at Akane's floor, quickly finding her door and standing outside of it dreading her reaction to his early visit. He looked around to make sure no one was following him in case she screamed at him for coming in earlier than anticipated and unannounced. When he was certain no one was going to become a witness to another one of their fights, he raised his hand to knock on her door only to find it opening on its own.

Well, not entirely on its own; Satoshi was behind it.

Barefoot.

Without a shirt.

Wearing nothing but a pair of sweat pants.

Both men were surprised to see the other, but Ranma became even more surprised when he saw the deep scratches on Satoshi's back when he turned around to face an also surprised Akane on the bed. Akane was only wearing a satin nighty, which Ranma was sure he had never seen her wear before; at least not for him. As if running on autopilot, Satoshi walked back inside the room and quickly got dressed before walking out of the room without saying a word to either of them. Ranma waited until he heard the door close behind him before he ventured to stare at her again.

He swallowed hard at the view, finding it difficult to not deem Akane incredible attractive as she lay on her bed. Her accentuated legs were exposed to the elements, taking him on a long ride which culminated at the beginning of the small, pink item of clothing she wore. Her hips were outstandingly noticeable as the fabric hugged her natural curves, including the ones belonging to her partially exposed breasts. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was in complete disarray, but she had never looked so beautiful to him.

He would have expressed his thoughts to her had he not remembered that she had taken the time to look beautiful for another man; a man he hated with every bone in his body. A man that had clearly taken advantage of her inviting looks and had done to her whatever he damn-well pleased, or so it seemed based on how he had found them. He half expected to discover a torn package of contraceptives thrown somewhere on the floor, but he was glad that they had at least taken the time to clean up after themselves. Unless, they had not even bothered with the contraceptive at all; standing to reason that this was why no evidence of used packages could be found anywhere. It was then that Ranma realized that if someone found out about this little encounter, they would be in violation of the terms of their contract and they could lose the registration of their dojo. He was not sure what enraged him the most: the idea of Akane losing her innocence to a man like Satoshi, or the fact that she did not seem to care if her actions jeopardized her family's inheritance.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he finally asked as he dropped his bag on her bed and approached the still seemingly uncaring form of Akane.

"You're early," was her indifferent response, "I wish you'd called."

"What for? So that you could fuck him faster before I got here? Were you guys not finished, yet?"

Akane rolled her eyes, but did not deny his assumptions. "So that I would have had breakfast before we rehearsed our stupid lines," she said as she stood up and grabbed her bath robe, hurriedly covering her body with it to prevent Ranma from seeing more than he already had. The last thing she needed was rising suspicious of the activity that had taken place in her room. Ranma noticed her actions, confusing them with a sudden concern for her dignity, and he scoffed at her. "Give me a break, Akane. I've seen you in much less than that, too many times."

"Regrettably so, I must say."

Ranma narrowed his eyes at her, taking a deep, long breath to calm his increasing anger. He could not recall a time of mutual agreement where she had complained about him seeing her body wearing nothing more than the smile on her face. Regardless of her attitude, he could not help but watching her with obvious longing as she ran around the room grabbing clothes to put on, not bothering to cover herself as she changed from her nighty to underwear and then a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She turned around to find Ranma staring at her, just as she had wanted it to be with her blatant display of flesh to him.

"Did you bring any food?"

"No, I didn't know that was a requirement," he spat at her. "I guess you must be hungry after exerting yourself. Want me to order something?"

Akane ignored his shameless jab and busied herself with brushing her hair. "Yeah, I have a coupon for the new restaurant that opened around the corner. Can you look up their menu online?"

"Sure."

Ranma did as told, taking out his laptop from his bag and browsing the menu of the eatery. He could have continued demanding an explanation for what she had just done, but he figured it would be easier for this to be over with if he just kept his mouth shut and finished the job that had brought him here in the first place. Meanwhile, Akane was cleaning up a table for them to review the interview questions and requirements before the food arrived.

"What do you want, Akane?"

"Find something for me. I'm gonna get some drinks from the vending machine downstairs, OK? What do you want?"

"Whatever you get me is fine."

Akane grabbed a few yen from her purse and left the room to head to the first floor of the building where the vending machines were stored. Ranma reached over for Akane's cell phone which was closer than his as it still swam somewhere inside his backpack. He flipped open the phone and his heart stopped.

He was mesmerized by the image present on the phone; the background picture of him and Akane was still present as the wallpaper of her phone. He remembered how he had customized her phone before giving it to her, and this had been the picture of the both of them he had chosen to use for both their phones. Suddenly, he felt regret for throwing away the picture of them at the carnival he had kept on his nightstand all these months. He hoped his mother would have more sense than him and would save it for him instead of throwing it away with the trash.

After the initial shock was over, he dialed the phone number of the restaurant and placed their order for delivery. Once the order was complete and he returned the phone to its location, Akane walked in with the drinks in her hands, closing the door behind her, and placing the drinks on the table where she had laid the paperwork they needed to go over. Ranma walked towards the table and sat opposite to Akane who was busy taking out the change from her pockets and throwing it inside a jar.

The relishing feeling of knowing she still held onto their picture made Ranma immediately forget what he had walked himself into just minutes ago when he arrived at her door. The hope that maybe, just maybe, somewhere within her she still held feelings for him, and perhaps the chance of them someday getting back together, made him rethink his long-term plans. Perhaps leaving the university was not the answer he was looking for. Perhaps moving on with his life, even if she was around and growing close to someone else, was the real challenge he was meant to overcome. Or, maybe, this was just another test of the strength of their feelings, and they would soon be laughing at the absurdity of the entire situation.

"Yo, Akane. I don't know what you and Satoshi were doing…"

"Don't start, Ranma."

"I'm not. I'm really not. I just, ah…let's…let's just be careful with what we do, OK? This contract will be more difficult to fulfill if we have rumors spread around, right? I know it's your life, and all, but…let's try and keep it simple, OK? For our sakes."

Akane stared at Ranma's face for a few seconds before nodding. "You're right. Satoshi and I work together a lot of the time, especially with the gymnastics competition coming up. I'll try and be more careful, if you promise to call before you butt my door open."

Ranma nodded to her. "Thank you, I will. So, I ordered you some yakitori, and some rice balls. Is that OK?"

Akane nodded, separating the press conference instructions from the preset questions and the answers they had come up with. "If I don't like it, I'll just take yours."

"Over my dead body!" Ranma joked, knowing that Akane knew she was one of the very few people he would share his food with.

Akane looked up and smiled at him. "That can be arranged, Saotome."

"Hardy har-har, as if you could defeat me, Tendo. What do we got here, anyway?"

Akane handed him a couple of pages that were labeled with her name on the top right corner. She kept with herself a similar stack of papers with his name on the top right hand of the first sheet. She cleared her throat and motioned for Ranma to ask a random question on the paper for her to answer. They alternated their turns so that each one was able to recite the answers to the questions, making sure to stop and restart when they stuttered too much or when they began rambling on.

Before they realized how much time had gone by practicing their answers, a loud knock on the door startled them, signifying their food had arrived. Ranma stood up and headed to the door, taking out his wallet as he did. The young boy on the other side of the door had a bag with their order, and seemed as if he was antsy to end his shift for the day.

"Tanaka's Restaurant at your service; I have one number 4, and one number 8, a double order of number 3, and extra sauce. That will be 2500 yen, please."

Ranma handed the delivery boy more than enough money to cover the food and left over for a generous tip before grabbing the food and closing the door. Akane had already cleaned up the table again to allow space for the food. Ranma took out the items and handed her food to her, to which she dug in as if she had not eaten in weeks. Ranma grabbed his own food, already seeing he was going to be ordering food from this particular restaurant more often.

"I gotta say, Akane. This contract is not such a bad idea, after all. It's nice to have some money in my pocket."

Akane nodded. "Yup, tell me about it. Paying for books and uniforms is gonna be so much easier now."

Even though they had both been given a few random scholarships, most of the funds to pay for costs of their education came from the dojo earnings. Soun and Genma could only handle so many classes in their old age –and their innate inability to commit to hard work, so their income had been slightly less than what Ranma and Akane had been able to get when they took over the dojo a year ago. However, with this new contract and its legacy, they would be able to have enough funds to finish paying for school and perhaps potentially hiring more trainers to help them with the school in the near future.

Ranma took another bite of his food, washed it down with his drink and stared at Akane until she took notice. She wiped her face with a napkin, swallowing her food before she asked him what he was staring at.

"You? Do you see anyone else around?"

"Well, don't. You make me feel uncomfortable, and I'm trying to eat."

"Sorry, I just…I've missed this. Us hanging around; not fighting. It's hard to make friends when half of the school hates you."

Akane scoffed. "You're having trouble? The other half of the school wants to fuck you. I can't imagine finding some company can be that bad."

"Are you in that other half?"

Akane slammed her fists on the table. "RANMA! For god's sake! I can't be having this discussion every time we see each other. You PROMISED!"

"I know I did, and we're technically not. Just because you sleep with someone, it don't mean you love them."

Akane sighed, knowing his technicality was valid. "What are you wearing for the conference?" She asked hoping he would get the hint that a change in conversation was needed.

Ranma shrugged, taking another bite to his mouth. "Whatever I wear to class, I guess."

"Good. I think it's a good idea we don't dress up too much. We're supposed to be normal, not wannabe celebrities."

"I have class right before the conference, so I will meet you there as soon as I can."

"Sounds good. Arriving with your backpack would be even better, makes us seem as part of the student body."

"As long as that body is yours, I'm in."

"RRRAAANMMMAA!"

Ranma laughed, clearly happy with his teasing. He knew he was playing with the boundaries of their promise, but finding the picture in her cell phone had truly lightened up his somber mood. "Oh, hey, Akane. I've got something for you."

"Uh?"

He stood up from the table and walked to his backpack. He rummaged through it until he found a small box held close by a bright ribbon. He returned to the table and handed it to her; half expecting her to shove it back to him. She did not, however, and carefully grabbed the box with a look of confusion on her face. He sat back on the chair again and shrugged. "Today would have been the anniversary of our first date. I couldn't help myself and I got something for you, even though…well…you know."

Akane held the box in her hands, feeling tears coming to her eyes even though some part of her wanted to throw the gift out the closest window. She had remembered the anniversary too, but when Satoshi arrived she had used him to forget all about it until Ranma showed up and it came back to her all over again.

"I probably shouldn't accept it."

"Maybe, but that'd be rude, don't you think? I mean, even with all this shit, I hope that at the end of the day you're still happy that we met. I know I am."

Akane could not hold back a couple of tears that streamed down her face. Ranma stood up and walked up to her, kneeling next to her and drying her tears with his hands. "I'm sorry, Akane. It was supposed to be a happy surprise. I didn't mean to upset you. Please, please don't cry."

Akane hiccuped as she tried to stop her crying which just seemed to increase. She did not know why she felt the need to cry her eyes out for such a simple gesture from him. Ranma slowly leaned closer to her as he gauged how much she would allow him to do. When she did not fight back, he embraced her tenderly, placing soft kisses on the crown of her head before resting his chin on her head and rocking her back and forth, begging her to calm down.

Saffron suddenly felt dizzy, his vision becoming blurry with every tear Akane shed. He tried to force her limbs to push Ranma away from her, but he felt as if he was slowly losing consciousness himself. He tried to hold on to her soul, and for the most part he succeeded, with the exception of a brief moment where Akane had complete control over her body and completely blocked his ability to visualize her actions.

At the same short-lived moment when Saffron lost control of Akane's soul, Ranma's mind was hit with random images accompanied with feelings of dread, despair, and sorrow. He saw Akane relentlessly fighting Saffron for her life until she resorted to kissing him as she used the final technique on him to finally end his existence. The image that followed Saffron's demise involved Ranma attempting to resuscitate an already far gone Akane as she lay on the bed of the operating room at Nerima hospital after the ART ended. He then saw Akane holding her head in pain in her room, and screaming to be left alone to no one in particular, something that he did not recall seeing or hearing about at all. Finally, he saw Akane declining his marriage proposal, seeing something he did not recall noticing when the actual scene had transpired: a quick flash of gold shining in her eyes.

As quick as the images came to him they were gone, leaving a stunned Ranma trying to piece together what had occurred. He felt his body shivering as if he was fearful of some unknown fate that was about to befall him. Was he going insane, he wondered? He had never had such an experience before, and he was sure as hell he did not want to have it ever again in his life. His bewildering thoughts were interrupted by Akane, telling him she had to start getting ready for class. She had been speaking to him for a while now, but he was not reacting to her voice at all until she shook him lightly as she spoke.

"Ranma, are you listening to me?"

Ranma pulled away from her, but still held on to her by her waist. He opened his mouth to ask her if she had seen the same images that had come to him, but the look on her face did not match his own jumbled state. He closed his mouth and looked back towards the door, wondering if someone had attacked him from behind without him even knowing. Akane's voice forced him to face her once more as he tried to control his shivering.

"Ranma?"

"Uh…yeah…I…I gotta go."

He stood up and grabbed his answer packet, his leftover food, and his backpack , more out of the necessity to concentrate on something other than the images than pure consciousness. He saw Akane had yet to open the gift he had given her, but she had at least not thrown it at his face yet. "I'll see you tomorrow, Akane."

"Alright. Thank you, Ranma."

"No problem," he said, not sure what she was thanking him for –the food, the company, the comforting or the gift. He walked out of the room and carefully closed her door behind him. He stood in the hall in awe before he ran down the hall, not bothering to care for the looks he was getting from the bystanders. He ran nonstop until he reached his room. He closed and locked the door behind him before grabbing a piece of paper and jotting down the images he had just seen with as much detail as he possibly could. Once he was done, he placed the paper inside the drawer of his nightstand, wondering if the images had been an omen warning him that something terrible was about to happen to Akane.

xxxXXXxxx

The crowd cheered as Ranma and Akane walked into the location of the press conference, hand-in-hand as if nothing ailed them, towards the impromptu stage at the cafeteria of the university. Reporters, investors and the general public had gathered inside the building to witness the press conference that was being televised to launch the Dojo's marketing efforts. Internally, the two dojo masters felt uncomfortable with the overwhelming attention, and wanted nothing more than to run away from the situation they were certainly not used to. However, no one could even image these feelings were running inside them since their faces showed the complete opposite emotions with their smiles and their relaxed postures. The couple waved their hands and thanked everyone for their support and attendance before taking a seat at the table that was placed for their use. After the crowd finally calmed down, the initial speech was begun by Ranma.

"As some of you may know, I'm Ranma Saotome, and this is Miss Akane Tendo. We were fortunate enough to be the winners of the NRD's ART event last year after a lot of hard work from the both of us. This year, we will be returning to the competition, which takes place in about a month or so, to defend the title of our dojo. We're here today to invite anyone interested in martial arts to attend and support the tournament, and of course, to also invite you to follow the launching of the new products that will be coming soon to help aspiring martial artists get better in their practice. At this point, we open the floor for questions."

All the hands went up at the same time, and Akane chose one at random. The young reporter was shaking, indicating he was nothing more than a rookie looking for a chance at the spotlight. He scratched the back of his head as he chose a question from the long list he had in his hands.

"Is…is it true that this is an NRD directive?"

Both trainers expected this tricky question as some competitors had already started calling the entire marketing strategy a bluff and a money-making scheme to force unregistered dojos go through the tedious process. Since Akane had chosen the interviewer, she responded his question without as much as breaking sweat thanks to the hours of practice.

"Absolutely! The NRD is always looking for ways to unite the MA community, and after the huge success of the first ART, it seemed logical to provide encouragement to other aspiring dojos by sharing our story and success. We're delighted to be part of these efforts."

The reporters wrote down Akane's response as Ranma used his turn and pointed at another reporter who had just raised his hand.

"What kind of products will you be offering or supporting?"

"The NRD has always had its own line of products and services that they wish to make known to the MA community, such as training equipment, health supplements and the like. The Tendo Dojo and its members of leadership have created –over time, our own products that we hope can be available to the public at some point during this intense campaign."

After a few nods and note-taking from the reporters, Akane chose the next interviewer: a small woman with a set of enormous glasses that almost covered half of her face.

"What other events will we be seeing you in?"

"We have other press conferences in line to announce products and invite the public to NRD-hosted events. We also have some demonstrations coming up, and free classes for beginners starting next year at the Tendo Dojo. We'll be pretty busy for the next three years, you can say."

After providing another moment for the reporters to take down their notes, Ranma took a sip from the water that had been placed on the table before he pointed at another reporter who had raised his hand twice already.

"Are you bringing in the same team to compete in the ART this year?"

"We would like to bring everyone in our school, as we think they all have something to bring to the tournament. However, in the interest of fairness we'll be hosting an internal tournament in two weeks to choose who will be coming with us to this years' tournament."

The same reporter asked if he could ask a couple more questions that related to Ranma's response, and Ranma agreed.

"The tournament is set to occur around the same time every year. Is there a particular reason why you waited until just two weeks before the tournament to choose a team? Were you planning on not attending at all, perhaps?"

Ranma noticed the man belonged to a news station known to publish bogus articles which ended up being hoaxes most of the time. He made a mental note to read the interviewer's ID before blindly providing opportunities to answer questions. "Our dojo trains students year-round and pushes them to do their best every day. We didn't see the need to prepare months ahead of time since everyone at our school gets the same personalized attention and high-quality training, on a daily basis."

"OK," the seasoned reported said, unhappy that his question had not had the desired effect. "And, finally, Mr. Saotome: are both of you attending the tournament?"

"Yes, both Akane and I will be defending the title at the tournament."

The reporters took the time to write down the answers as Ranma and Akane had a few bites of the snacks left for them. They exchanged an unreadable look for the bystanders, but they had just communicated to each other be mindful of the increasingly accusatory questions to come.

"Ms. Tendo, a question for your, if I may?" another young reporter asked.

"Sure."

"Is it true that you were declared legally dead for about 5 minutes last year after the ART ended?"

Ranma held back his tongue and clenched his fist under the table at hearing such a personal question being asked. They both knew that there was a possibility that private questions would come up, and they had prepared for them, but it seemed to Ranma that this reporter's question was rather distasteful, compared to all the other questions he could have asked.

"Yes, it's true. I inherited a genetic disease from my mother, and I was very sick for a while but everything turned out OK in the end."

"Don't you find it irresponsible of Ranma to allow his ill fiancée to compete in a martial arts tournament, Ms. Tendo?"

Akane felt Ranma's popping of his knuckles as he readied to jump the unsuspecting reporter. Akane smiled to him and patted his knee under the table to try to bring him down from his anger.

"You must not know me very well. Just as Ranma did, you will soon learn that you cannot expect a Tendo to understand what's best for them. Both Ranma and I agreed that we wouldn't allow my illness to put a dent on our long-term plans, so he begrudgingly, and vigilantly, allowed me to compete without much protest from him."

"Any remaining effects of the ordeal?"

Akane smiled at the loaded question as she stole a quick glance at Ranma, whose aura was beginning to spike again with anger toward the current conversation. She placed her left hand on his to calm him down, causing him to turn and witness the precise moment a familiar spark of gold crossed her eyes. Memories of his odd experience came back to him, reminding him that he had some questions to ask her himself when the time was right. Akane returned her attention to the awaiting reporter and chuckled.

"If by effects, you mean being spoiled by Ranma and my family, then, yes, plenty of remaining effects are left."

The crowd chuckled at her response, clearly amused at how she had easily redirected the malice intent of the reporter. Ranma did not waste any time in choosing another reporter as he was growing tired of the one that had been questioning Akane so far.

"Ms. Tendo: with the responsibility of running your family dojo, attending the university as a full-time student, leading Tokyo's University's gymnastics team, and now participating in this NRD campaign, do you have any time to spend with your fiancée?"

Akane was surprised she was able to respond without flinching or throwing a chair at the interviewer. "From all the things you mentioned, the only one I don't expect Ranma to be around with me is the gymnastics competition. Thankfully, all those other events you listed involve me and Ranma spending time together, doing what we both like and enjoy."

"I see," the reporter continued. "So, what you're saying is that for all those events you have Ranma to support you, but for the gymnastics competition you can rely on your other special friend, Satoshi Nakajima?"

The disapproval of the couple's fans was immediately known to everyone, delaying Akane's response. Once silence made itself known again, Akane answered the question.

"Satoshi is the captain of the male gymnastics team; how stupid would I have to be to not have a great relationship with him? Only a fool would try to work with someone you can't stand."

"I guess, Ms. Tendo, what I'm trying to ask is: are you or are you not having an affair with Mr. Nakajima? Our reliable sources say that you have been seen with him in his dorm room or him in yours and that you hardly spend any time in Ranma's quarters compared to how much time you spend at Nakajima's."

Akane could not help but to laugh. "I wasn't aware guys and girls rejected by Ranma and I were part of your reliable sources, sir. As opposed to other couples, Ranma and I trust each other unconditionally, so unless Ranma is uncomfortable with the situations you just described –which he is not, I don't see any reason why such a question is relevant to this conference."

"You're probably right, Ms. Tendo. Mr. Saotome, have you ever cheated on Ms. Tendo?"

Another round of disapproving comments took over the anxious crowd. Akane and Ranma understood why the reporters were so fixated in finding some dirt, as this was how most of the media providers increased their ratings. Yet, this press conference was quickly turning into a judging contest rather than an introduction of their upcoming campaign.

"Let me ask you something first, Mr.…?"

"Hakudoshi."

"Mr. Hakudoshi. Did you happen to see Akane in action at the tournament last year?"

"As a matter of fact I did, sir. She did a marvelous job for someone so young."

"OK, so you saw how much damage she causes when she's in a good mood, right? Can you imagine how much damage she can cause if she is mad? What kind of idiot do you think I am to cheat on a woman who can easily kick my ass?"

The bout of laughter from crowd did not wait to be heard, irritating Hakudoshi at being the center of Ranma's joke. "That still doesn't answer my question, Mr. Saotome."

"Want a straight answer? No, I have never cheated on Akane, Mr. Hakudoshi. Next question?" Ranma asked as he pointed to a woman standing next to Hakudoshi's crew.

"Since we're in the topic of romance, Ms. Tendo, is it true that your engagement with Mr. Saotome was pre-arranged without your consent? How did you both take the news?"

"I'll take that one, 'kane," Ranma said, earning him a small smile of approval from his partner who disliked talking about this topic since she broke up the engagement. "Our parents decided we'd be engaged even before we were born, so when they told us on the first day she and I met, you can image how against the idea we both were. It was hard, for the both of us, and we struggled much through it, but it was worth every fight we had. Going back to it now I realize that even if our parents hadn't arranged it, I knew since they day I met Akane that she'd be the only woman I'd ever want to marry," Ranma finished by staring at Akane as he said the last words, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Approving nods followed Ranma's statement as fans awed at his declaration. The reporter wrote down some notes before being granted permission to continue her interview. "If you have made your peace with the engagement, how come she doesn't have a ring?"

Akane felt Ranma tense up at the question that brought back some hurtful memories for him. She felt it was only fair that she answered the question he did not want to answer himself as he had done for her just now. "Ranma and I both agreed that even if our engagement was arranged, we'd still go through the normal channels of burdening him with popping the question. I can't make it too easy on him, now can I?"

"I understand," the reporter said. "Any idea of when you're popping the question, Mr. Saotome?"

"I can't tell you that! How can I make it a surprise if she hears it ahead of time?"

The crowd laughed at his response, and the reporter stated that she did not have any more questions. Seeing that neither of them were going to cave in at their inappropriate questions, the press conference attendees returned to questions related to the tournament and products, leaving alone the topic of the relationship between the owners of the Tendo Dojo. After half an hour of more questions, the press conference conclusion was called and Akane and Ranma spent a few minutes signing autographs and taking pictures with some of the attendees who were avid fans. Ranma and Akane were not aware so many people followed their lives, proving to Akane –and Saffron, that she did have to be more careful when implementing her plans.

"Please! One final picture of the happy couple!" the same reporter that had asked Ranma if he had cheated on Akane yelled above everyone's conversations. Ranma and Akane held hands and posed for the picture, but the reporter had another pose in mind.

"How about one with a kiss? Everyone loves a good kiss picture, neh?"

Ranma looked at Akane with a nervous face. He knew they had also anticipated the chance of such a request being brought up, and Akane had been upset at the proposition.

"Ranma's kinda shy," Akane finally said.

"Oh, come on! Your fans will love it!"

Grudgingly, and with the pressure of their present fans, the two trainers leaned forward to each other and shared a kiss worthy of the front page of Tokyo's news. The crowd's catcalls did not help ease Ranma's nerves, and as soon as the picture was taken and the kiss was over, Ranma grabbed Akane's arms so that she piggyback rode on him as he ran out of the building and began jumping on fences and roofs until they were far away from the cheering crowd.

xxxXXXxxx

Akane stared at her dorm's ceiling surrounded by the dark of the middle of the night. It was the Friday after the press conference, and tomorrow she had to attend practice all day with the gymnastics team. Saffron was not looking forward to hanging around with the passive-aggressive bitches that had made the cut for the renowned gymnastics team, so his anxiety was keeping them both awake regardless of the comforting silence around them. The only positive outcome he was looking forward to this upcoming weekend was the execution of another pivotal step of his plans, bringing him closer to the awaited moment of his rebirth.

Akane turned her face to the side and saw the pile of books that rested on the table, waiting to be used for studying at some point this weekend. Underneath the table lay her gym bag ready to take a beating in a few hours, and on her nightstand lay the recently arrived instructions for the martial arts demonstration that would take place in a week, courtesy of the Masters of the Tendo Dojo. The Lord of the Phoenix tribe felt overwhelmed with the amount of mortal responsibility on Akane's shoulders and grumbled as he asked himself how much longer he had to deal with completing the mundane tasks.

"How does she do all these things and not get tired?" he wondered as he finished listing all the events that Akane had to participate in for the next few months. Then again, he already knew the answer to his question: her devotion to the things that matter to her was one of the reasons why he was fighting to keep her by his side, anyway. Ranma's presence in her life was only momentary; the closer he got to his rebirth, the closer he became to eliminating the last anchor Akane had to a life away from the Phoenix tribe.

Saffron closed his eyes to concentrate his mind and energy in the task at hand. It had been a while since he had spoken to the Captain and it had been a while since she had made any attempt at breaking free from his grasp –at least not since Ranma had given her that stupid charm bracelet a few days ago in commemoration of the anniversary of their first date. He took a deep breath as he relaxed his body, quickly finding himself walking down a narrow path inside her mind. The room he was walking through had no visible dimensions, and a dense, white fog made it impossible to see anything past one's body. His slow steps loudly echoed in the empty room as he walked towards his destination. He knew where she hid; he had hidden there himself for a long time before he was released back to the living world. The thick, white fog eventually turned dark until blackness was all that surrounded his soul. His steps came to a sudden halt when he finally found her curled up body lying on the ground in front of him.

"Captain, it's so nice to see you, again."

Akane opened her eyes and stared blankly at him before getting up from the ground and standing in front of him. She fixed his collar and patted flat some of the wrinkles on his clothes more out of habit than true concern. Saffron lifted his right hand and tucked her bangs behind her ears, then lovingly stroked her cheek with his index finger. "Are you still upset with me?"

"Only when you give me reason to be."

Saffron grabbed her hands in his, kissing each one as he kept a tight grip on them. He lifted his eyes and stared at hers, delighting in their beauty much like how had done before, countless times. "Do you think I like to see you in pain, Captain? This could be a lot easier for us if you just went willingly."

Akane smiled and tilted her head to her right.

"Are you saying I asked for this, my Lord?"

"I'm saying you didn't choose to avoid it."

Akane pulled her hands from his and surrounded his waist with her hands, pressing the left side of her face onto his chest. Saffron responded immediately by embracing her, remembering how much he had missed moments like this with her.

"Is this not much simpler, Akane? Wouldn't you rather spend our lives like this?"

"I did, but it was all a lie."

"We can make it the truth. Just say the word and we can leave now, forget about those who keep you in this commonplace life. You can be the Lady of the Phoenix tribe; they already cherish you; I cherish you."

"You remind me of the man you used to be before you got your past lives' memories back. Why? Why did you use that spell on yourself?"

"I needed to know the truth. My council wouldn't let me be with you, and I needed to know why. I thought I could fix whatever it was that prevented us from being together. I thought I could keep you with me, but it turned out they were correct."

"You never needed anyone with you before, you can continue that way and you know it. Don't you think that having to look after someone makes you weak? Do you want to be seen as having a weakness in me?"

"If that were the case, if you were in fact the cause for a man's weakness, Saotome would have given up on you a long time ago."

Akane sighed, realizing that Ranma and Saffron were much alike than they themselves believed so. "So you think punishing him for what you would have done in his place is fair for all of us?"

Saffron's grip on her tiny body tightened at her words. He had hoped that she had changed her mind, but the more he proceeded with his plan, the more distant she became from him. "Why is it so difficult to understand that all I want is to have you in my life, Captain?"

Akane pushed herself away from him so that she could see his face; a face she had become accustomed to seeing in her life every day when she lived in China. She cupped his face in her hands and gave Saffron a small smile. "My Lord, the woman you fell in love with was never truly there. I would have found out the truth, eventually, and I would've left your tribe sooner or later. I don't belong there, and you don't belong here with the humans. You're a god…your life is meant to be so much better than this."

It was Saffron's turn to chuckle. "If I'm a god, how come I can't make you return my feelings? How come I can't make you see how much better you would have it with me?"

Akane returned his smile. "Who said I didn't know? I just…he…he's the one I want to spend my life with. He's the reason why I can't go back with you to Jusendo. He's the one that owns my heart."

"And that is why he has to die."

Akane closed her eyes, inhaling his scent that was so familiar to her and had calmed her troubles on so many occasions. Akane was everything but ungrateful and part of her heart did cherish the moments she and her Lord had together before she realized she did not belong with him. He had been nothing but attentive and kind to her, until his past memories came back and he had grown vengeful, mistrusting, possessive and even hostile towards her. If Akane had never met Ranma, and had not had the life she knew she was meant to live, she would have stayed with the kind side of Saffron for the rest of her short life.

"I can't promise you I won't hate you if you do. But, I can promise I will mourn you when he ends your life."

"Why do you have so much faith in him? He doesn't even know I'm around! Even now it is too late for him to defeat me unless he accepts that he would have to destroy you, too."

"True, but his mother once told me something about him, that he proved when he brought me back to life when everyone else had given up on me. It's why I know he will find a way to make things right. He will fix this, fix me, and then he will make sure to take care of you, too."

"Fix you? Nodoka is a fool! She is too blinded by her pride over her son's supposed manliness to see his numerous faults."

"In that case, my Lord, you too are a fool. You're too blinded by what you want but can't have, instead of seeking what you need so that you can realize the imminent failure of your plans."

Saffron frowned down at her, wondering how he had not decapitated her on the spot at her insolent words. "How can you stand here in front of a powerful being such as I, tenderly sharing an embrace with him, as you insult his pride?"

Akane's grip tightened, holding back a chuckle. "Because, I remember a time when this powerful being gave me the two most comforting years of my life; his pride being the furthest thing from his mind when he did."

A moment of silence engulfed them until Akane broke the embrace, giving Saffron one last glance. Saffron knew what this conversation had been; a goodbye. She was officially declaring war with him, having already exhausted her efforts to reason with him. She had spent the last few months captive in her body, trying to mend his heart so that he did not continue with his plans, so that he left her family alone. Yet, all of her efforts had failed and this was the last civil conversation she would allow them to revel in.

"There is no turning back from here, is there? Your mind has been made, hasn't it?" he asked.

Akane shook her head. "If Ranma has to murder me, so be it. I'd gladly give up my life so that he can move on with his."

"What makes you think it won't be the other way around?"

"Because Ranma would never let me down, and he's not going to allow you to get away with it."

Saffron leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Akane's cheek before retracting his imposing figure away from her. She watched him as he turned around and left the dark room without another word, leaving behind an Akane who was planning how to spend the last moments of her ethereal life.

xxxXXXxxx

"Did ya gt da eml?" was the content of the text message that woke up a still tired Akane the next day. She randomly hit and dropped several items from her nightstand with her uncoordinated hand as she tried to find her cell phone to make it stop ringing. After she read the text message, she saw the sender had been none other than Ranma himself –only he would have the gall to wake her up at such an ungodly time on a Saturday. She blinked a few times to adjust her tired eyes to the small print of her phone's time display, and realized she was very late for her practice of the day.

"Son of a bitch!" she yelled as she kicked off the covers from her with her legs.

She rolled over the bed until she reached the edge, grabbing a hold of anything that was nearby as she made her way to the shower. She quickly stripped from her clothes and dumped them in the hamper, which reminded her she had to do the laundry, yet again.

She took an amazingly quick shower to awaken her senses, and in less than five minute she was out the door, fully dressed and on her way to the gym. She knew her peers would glare at her with disapproving eyes, as they constantly searched for any reason to force her to step down from her position as captain, and she was not looking forward to an argument on an empty stomach. As she picked up her pace to the gym, she flipped open her phone and responded to Ranma's message.

"Lte 4 practc, what hppned?"

"Fmly trp."

Akane sighed. It was around this time of the year that her family tended to rile up the Saotomes to embark in some sort of family-bonding trip. This was definitely not what she or Ranma needed at the moment with all her other obligations to fulfill.

"When?"

"Nxt wknd. Alrdy sd no."

"4 bth of us?"

"Always."

"Tks. Hngry n lte. Bye."

"K. Mom cllng. Bye."

She flipped close her phone, seeing the entrance to the gym close by. As soon she walked in, the comments of her tardiness made themselves painfully present. She had already changed into her outfit before she left her room, so she dropped her bag on the floor before rallying up her team.

"Look who has graced us with her presence, team –Ms. Popularity. We were already voting on choosing another captain for the team since you're too busy making out with your boyfriend in front of the cameras to bring anything productive to practice."

"Well, tough shit. The day any of you can beat me in gymnastics, you can claim the captain place. For now, since you're nowhere near my skill, why don't you just shut up and start running ten laps, uh?"

The girl in question rolled her eyes before calling the rest of the squad to begin their warm up. Satoshi –who was also present at the gym with his own team, already deep in practice, walked up to her and gave her a questioning look.

"Where were you?"

"Asleep?"

"This late?"

"Tweaking up my plans last night. What's your report?"

"The contract is serving as the distraction we expected. Ranma has no idea Ukyo is…well, you know."

Akane nodded. "Who's next on your list?"

"Actually, I wanted to…"

"AKANE!"

Akane's face turned to the location of the voice and saw Ranma running towards her, his gym bag in tow. She turned back to Satoshi and dismissed their discussion of the next victim on his list before Ranma arrived to where they stood. Ranma did not bother to greet Satoshi, and Satoshi did not bother to stay long enough to hear the conversation between the two trainers.

"What's wrong? I told you I was busy."

"I know, Akane, but, my mom just called me."

"About the stupid trip? You already told them we can't go. We have the internal tournament at the dojo next weekend, and I have the gymnastics tournament, and..."

"It's…not about that," he interrupted her.

"So, what is it?" Akane's patience was running thin.

"It's…Kasumi…she…she had an accident at work…a bad one."

Akane froze on the spot. She grabbed Ranma by his shirt, shaking him as she demanded to be told if her sister was alright.

"It's too early to tell. We gotta go, Akane. We've got to see her in case…"

"Don't say it!"

Ranma nodded, understanding that if he was having a difficult time accepting that the woman he had learned to love as a sister could leave this world at any time, Akane was definitely on the edge of losing her mind. Ranma grabbed Akane's hand and guided her to her bag, which he picked up and tossed over his shoulder.

Seeing as the rest of the team stopped their warm up and stared at them with disapproving looks and shaking of their heads, Ranma turned to face Akane and asked her to stay where she was. After Akane nodded even though she seemed as if she was spacing out, Ranma walked back to where Satoshi stood, placing a hand on the man's shoulder to get his attention.

Satoshi turned around and glared at Ranma, distrusting already whatever Ranma had to say. Satoshi crossed his arms and shrugged in a way to ask Ranma what he wanted.

"Look," Ranma began, "We obviously hate each other's guts and all that, but Akane's sister was stabbed at work by a patient, and we are needed back home immediately. Can you deal with the bitches of the team for her? She's in no state to put up with their shit right now."

Satoshi looked beyond Ranma and watched as Akane covered her face with her hands, keeping tears from coming out. He then stared at the women gymnastics team as they had begun to point at Ranma and then at Akane, clearly getting ready to jump into action with some sort of cruel plan. Satoshi's eyes returned to Ranma's pleading ones, wanting nothing more than to decline his request. However, if Ranma had been man enough to swallow his pride and ask for help from him, he too could do the same for Akane's sake.

"Go. I'll deal with the snake pit."

"Thank you," Ranma said, meaning his appreciative response before he turned around, ran towards Akane, and raced with her to his car.

Satoshi saw as some of the members of the female gymnastics team had begun to follow Akane's path, but he called them back, thankful that he had gotten their attention just in time to avoid Akane burning them alive.

"Why did you stop, didn't you hear Akane? Ten laps! Get your flabby assess back to the track!"

If looks could kill, Satoshi knew that he would have dropped dead where he stood, but he kept his ground and gave the females an exasperated look. Luckily, the snakes knew Satoshi and Akane had equal authority over the gymnastics team and either one could easily demand their dismissal from the competition, so they reluctantly returned to the track to continue the warm up exercise.

Far away from the university's gym, Ranma and Akane were speeding out of the campus' parking lot, heading home to find out first-hand how severe the attack on Kasumi had been. They knew she was a trained nurse and an innate good one at that, and that hospitals hardly ever became the center of fights or the scene of life-threatening conflict, but it did not mean that the chance was not still there. Akane's hands were shaking as she tried to dial home to find out more than what Ranma had already told her. After a few rings in her phone, the machine picked up, making Akane realize no one was home.

"Ranma, when…when did it happen? How come they didn't call me, first?"

Ranma shook his head. "I don't know why they didn't call you. I guess they're too busy worrying about her. Mom said it happened just a few hours ago. Kasumi was called this morning to cover for a nurse who called in sick, so she went in at around 5 in the morning. Ono was called at about 8 a.m. to come to the hospital to give consent for Kasumi to go into surgery."

"Surgery? How badly was she stabbed?"

"I don't know, Akane. I'm sorry. My mom stayed behind to watch over the twins, that's when she had the chance to call me. In fact, can you call Nabiki? They haven't been able to get ahold of her."

Akane nodded, sniffing and drying her tears. She dialed Nabiki's number and was surprised to find that the phone had not even rung once. A second later, her voicemail had kicked in saying that the inbox was full and no more messages could be left.

"What the hell? Nabiki's inbox is full."

"That's odd. Text her?"

"I'm on it."

Akane sent Nabiki a text message, begging her to call her as soon as she could, stating that Kasumi was in the hospital and was very ill. After five minutes of waiting for a response, Akane dialed again and the voicemail full message made its appearance again.

"Where the hell is she?"

"I don't know. Stuck in a meeting? Who knows! She'll get the message, or maybe she's already on her way here and had to turn off her phone."

"I hope so. Daddy will be absolutely upset if Nabiki doesn't show up."

"Are you kidding? If your sister doesn't show her ass soon, I will fly to America and drag it back here."

"And bring Kuno and Kodachi back?"

"Uhm…never mind, then."

"I just hope she gets here in case…before…oh, Ranma…what if?"

Ranma placed a hand on her leg, patting it lightly in an attempt to calm her down. "Kasumi is very careful; I'm sure she was able to stop anything from truly hurting her."

"I know but, I just have this awful feeling that something's gonna go terribly wrong."

Ranma nodded to her, hiding his own matching feelings for the situation. He had not been able to take away from his mind the images of Akane in pain, and wondered if they had been simple premonitions of the impact Kasumi's incident would have on Akane.

"But, I saw the glow in her eyes. I've seen that glow before…I just…"

"Ranma?" Akane called out to him, noticing his lost-looking eyes. "Are you alright? Do you want me to drive?"

"No, Akane. I'm just…thinking about Kasumi."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I know it's hard but why don't you take a nap? We're two hours away from Nerima, anyway."

Akane nodded, feeling the lack of sleep from last night catching up to her. She placed her phone in between the two seats as she grabbed the blanket that he always had in the back of the car before almost immediately falling asleep.

Ranma waited half an hour to make sure she was asleep, and when he could feel her aura in a complete state of relaxation, he slowly and quietly grabbed her phone. He flipped it open and began blatantly invading her privacy, determined to finding out what was really happening to her before he was too late to help her out.

A/N: A little less friction between Ranma and Akane in this chapter, I hope you liked it. Next chapter: the Amazons make their appearance! MUHAHAHAHA! Any takers on the lines from the song being used here?