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Finding Alice', Rayne no Akai Hinageshi

First Component: Chapter Three: Moments

Author's note: I here by disclaimed the ownership of Ranma ½, the property of Takahashi Rumiko as well as Haou Airen, the property of Shinjo Mayu. They are not mine anymore than there's a brand spanking new house just for me waiting in the suburb! The papers sucked but it was well worth it.

For those who ever thought about giving up on romance, remember this…

…when you're in love, you can do anything…

Note: Please wait nine and a half months after reading previous chapter before reading this one.

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"Sometime, somewhere, something in life will make you stop and ask yourself; 'Do I know where I'm going?' and sometime the answer you get may not the one you were hoping for. But that's not the scary part. The scary part is you knowing full well what you going to have to do next. " Me: graduation's speech.

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It was a cold November – well, as cold as any other November really, but what makes it this one's particularly noticeable was that there was no one around to complain about it too.

Akane Tendo, the first year Drama and Performing Art major, was sitting by herself on the wooden floor of her father's dojo pondering things normal nineteen years old like her usually ponders.

Yes, she was thinking about her boyfriend – or rather, her fiancé Ranma Saotome. Or even more precisely, she was thinking about her promise with him; the one they have together just before they both separated for their university.

"Ranma," the shorthaired girl intoned softly to herself. "Can you still remember me? …Us? Do you still feel the same, even after all these times?"

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a trio of soft knocks ringing from the dojo's door.

Akane swiveled around to face the door. "Come on in," she called out, still not getting up. It was most likely just her older sister, Kasumi, telling her that dinner was ready anyway.

The door creaked a little as it slit open. However to the young lady's surprise it was not Kasumi at all. It was Ranma, her fiancé Ranma.

Her heart jumped to her throat. She opened her mouth to say something but no word came out.

Hot damn! The boy- no, the man was… HOT! Seriously hot. And his physique…he used to be well-built before but now it is just ridiculous. And those dreamy blue eyes… wow, it…

Ranma gave her his ever-so-annoying smirk upon noticing her speechlessness. Of course it made Akane clamped her mouth shut straight away. She never wants him to see her gaping at him like some crazed fan girl.

"Ranma," Akane offered formally, looking him in the eyes. "You look well. And a university student, who would've thought you'd actually pull through."

"Who knows, not me that's for sure," Ranma said easily, before chuckling a little. His laughter died and he looked at her once again, but with softer yet harder eyes this time. "What about you Akane? How have you been?"

"Can't complain, I supposed. University's life is much quieter than what here used to be that's for sure," the shorthaired girl answered in reply. "No thanks to you," she added cheekily, giving him a similar smirk to the one he has given her earlier.

"Yeah well, I did have to live up to my namesake after all, didn't I?" the pigtailed boy replied offhandedly.

"Did? Ranma Saotome, are you trying to tell me that you've been leading a – dare I say it – uneventful college life?" she asked, half kidding and half serious.

"Well," he began, sounding slightly nervous for some reason – as if he was making a confession or some such. "I wouldn't say uneventful but yeah, I picked up no extra fiancées and/or nemesis for almost a year – that's gotta count for something right?"

Akane's face lit up even more at those words. She beamed at Ranma, who was giving her an imploring look, and stepped closer to him. She lightly wrapped her arms around him and leaned close, bringing her mouth right next to his ear.

"Of course it counts for something – it counts for a heck of a lot," she whispered before pulling back and giving him a chaste but emotional kiss. "Welcome home Ranma; we've missed you – I, have missed you."

…

"Ranma Saotome! Stop day dreaming!!!"

Ranma Saotome, currently a girl, blinked rapidly in surprise as she took in her surrounding. She was in a small and homely café which looked kind of deserted. She blinked one more time before turning around to face the person whose yell snapped her out of her reverie.

"I wasn't daydreaming, Kurumi-chan – I just have a couple of things on my mind," the pigtailed girl protested indignantly. She was a good with friend with Kurumi but that did not mean she could get away with woolgathering while on the job.

"Yeah yeah, Ranma-chan, whatever you say," the older girl waved off Ranma's excuse. "I was just telling you that since it's kind of slow today, why don't you take off early? I hear you're going back home today."

"Really? You sure you don't mind closing up by yourself?"

"Course I'm sure, beside I'm sure Keta and Kota wouldn't mind giving me a hand or two, right?" Kurumi said, turning to her two younger brothers who were scoffing down the stir-fry Ranma has made earlier. The twin baulked at the prospect of being roped into helping clean up.

"Ahm, I gotta go…" Keta blurted out, his eyes wandered about, looking for anything he could use as an excuse.

"…feed Milk, yeah. So busy, no time for clean up," Kota finished his twin's sentence. They both turned to stare at each other with the same thought in their minds: you only need one person to feed a cat.

"Said it first!!!" Kota yelled, rushing over to the startled cat.

"Na ah! It was my idea!" Keta roared back as he chased his twin to the now quite frightened, brown-white striped Maine Coon.

Ranma stifled back a giggle; poor Milk, he had no chance. Served him right, the silly thing always pops up unannounced behind her despite the fact that she made it clear that cats still scare the bejezzus out of her.

"As you can see, we have everything under control here," Kurumi said with amusement.

"So just go ahead and get yourself ready for your homecoming. I'm sure there you have a score of local hunks all lined up waiting for you," she added with a toothy grin. "I want to hear all the saucy details when you come back. So don't disappoint, okay?"

Ranma gave the blond girl (Pure Japanese too – and people say she has odd colored hair.) a mock glare but was promptly ushered out of the café's stall for her trouble.

"Kurumi, that girl's far too… ahh! What's the world? Overbearing? Really, in the short time that I've known her, she has had me subjugated her pet project," the part time girl grumbled, stripping off her apron as she walked into the back room to get change. She peeled off the café's mini-dress and stepped into her much more comforting pair of baggy jeans.

"I mean, I've only been working here for a few months and so far she has tried to set me up on one… two… three," Ranma stopped changing half way – standing there clad with only her jeans and sport bra - and began counting off with her fingers. "…four dates! Four! Even when I made it perfectly clear that I could get along just fine without a boyfriend…"

Still… the over-bearing Kurumi has wormed herself into Ranma's heart and now she could not for the life of her, imagine the blond haired young in any way.

…

The pigtailed girl suddenly shook her head. She had better be going if she wanted to make it in time for the five o'clock train. She still has to go to her apartment to change and return her room.

Ranma sighed; she still has not found a room for next year yet. 'Oh well, it can wait until next year,' she supposed.

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'It's five-forty – that gives me just enough time to wash up before dinner,' Ranma noted, looking up from his watch to resume staring out the window. It was what he has been doing for the past half an hour as he rode the South-bound, Etefuka train back to Nerima, the only place he has ever called home.

It will not be long now. The concrete jungle that is Tokyo was thinning at an observable rate. Still, he could not wait to get home. It has been too long.

Nine and a half month…

That is thirty-eight weeks… or two hundreds and sixty-six days… or six thousands, three hundreds and eighty-four hours… or three hundred and eighty-three thousands and forty minutes… or twenty-two millions, nine hundred and eighty-two thousands and four hundreds seconds…

To say it has been a long time coming would be an understatement. It was long by anyone standard.

And what more, was how much he missed her. He missed her so much that it made all those gargantuan numbers seemed small by comparison. He missed her so much he could not even begin to describe what he was feeling with words. And that is not because he was not good with them either – no, Ranma Saotome has changed in that regard. A year of university level literature has saw to it he could spend more than a few pages describing someone he knows.

Yet after all of that, he could not describe how much he missed her.

Meguro! Next station is Meguro! Passengers heading for Nerima, Noudate and Endou please change train here for local service. Thank you for traveling with JR, we wish you a pleasant day.

'I'm here…' Ranma noted to himself as he stood up. He leaned down, pulled his luggage, a massive backpack, out from under his seat and shouldered it before walking over to join a line of other passengers crowding at the door getting ready to disembark.

The electric door parted with a dull ping and the pigtail man followed the crowd out onto the platform. The desolated feel of the platform surprised him a little. After almost a year of metropolitan commuting, his experience of train platform was something along the line of 'get on, get off or get lost' – so anything less than a sea of people was a sight he did not expected to see.

Ranma took in a huge breath of fresh air as he took a look around. The place seems familiar yet so unfamiliar at the same time. The minimalist-style buildings, the pleasant dull grey coloring… he missed this.

'This feels different,' He noted as he walked down the front steps of the station. He smiled at the old man minding the noodle stand who smiled back fondly. He shifted the straps on his shoulders and started down the street with a hint of spring in his steps. A silly grinned was pasted on his face but for some unfathomable reason he was sure no one would mine.

This feeling, whatever it was, he was sure he had never felt it before.

It felt good.

He broke into a run; he really could not wait to get home.

…

As minutes flew by he began to recognize more and more of his surrounding. The shops and stands were giving him a sense of déjà vu. Even a passing old lady gave him a knowing smile and a nagging feeling of a name he could not place. He turned into a familiar looking corner and slowed down to a slow amble.

There it was! The Furinkan High! Darn, coming back here was really nostalgic; he could almost hear the eccentric principle with a bad case of Hawaiian complex telling him off for being a bad 'kahuna' in his horribly thick accent.

Ranma smiled fondly at the recollection. God, those were some crazy days.

The pigtailed boy shook his head, smiling sardonically at the thought. Most of them were not his fault but some… well, let just say he was a lot less mature back then.

Still…he really should come back here when it is day time. Miss Ninomiya would zinger him good for not writing her a single letter, but he was quite sure he would live. He was catching up with her would be worth it.

He smirked at the idea of telling her who got the High-Achiever's Price for his year. She would have kittens.

Beep!

Ranma glanced down at his watch. It was six already! He better save all this reminiscing stuff for tomorrow, otherwise he was going to miss dinner!

With that thought in mind, he took off toward the Tendo's Dojo at a sprint.

…

Half a minute later he arrived at the front of the compound. He was not even breathing hard – being in a much better shape even than he had left. He fixed an easy-going grin (AKA his patented Lady-killer's Smile) onto his face and rapped the door pithily three times.

Silence.

Then there was a quiet shuffling of someone putting on his/her shoes and the door knobs began to turn. He smiled in anticipation. It could possible, hopefully, be Akane but it was probably Kasumi though. Nevertheless, it would still be great to see the homely girl once again. He has missed her much more than he had expected. Maybe it was because of the university's food. Maybe.

'Of course, it can't possible be Nabiki,' he thought as the door swung open. 'The girl never opens the door.'

But to his surprise, it was neither Kasumi nor Akane or Nabiki who was standing behind the door.

It was a young man who looked to be around Ranma's age. He was slightly shorter than Ranma but was not short by any mean. He has a cropped brown hair that kind of handsome in a gentlemanly sort of way. He also appeared to be quite fit – not quite up to pigtailed boy standard but he was certainly no slouch.

"Hey, you must be Ranma! Akane-chan has told me lots about you," he greeted Ranma with a smile, holding out his hand for him to shake. "I'm Akane's boyfriend Satoshi Kousuke."

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Author's note:

Hey ya'll. How's everybody? I know it's been forever, but trust me, the wait feels even longer to me than it was for you.

So why the waits? Well, as you may or may not notice, the period between this chapter and the last is exactly the same about of time as how long it has been in the story. Realism? No, I've just been too busy. Really. Trust me - I would not wait this long just to get the effect.

Anyway, please review. It would make me feel oh-so-appreciated.

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p.s. How many of you actually thought that I would pair Ranma up with Akane? Really now, I'm quite curious.