Time to get serious here. I went on a frenzy and out of few minutes of thought I came up with this. I've been typing with no stop and I hope I'm doing it right. Please, if you are a reviewer, let me know if I screwed it up and I'll try to fix it immediately.

Enjoy

- Azalia

A sigh after the other, Ranma kept the pace of a dying turtle.

Her day started off beautifully compared to the awkwardness of the table this morning. It didn't mattered, they would never understand. Being a woman was complicated, especially if you were a man in the first place.

Now there she was, walking the bicycle instead of riding it to arrive faster to the Cat Cafe. She didn't felt like riding it, she didn't felt like doing much in fact. She wanted to sit down, and think more about her feelings, and for what was growing in her heart for a man she had known for most of her life.

"I wonder... If I could be a woman all the time... Would he see me as one and not as the man he knows?"

The scent of noodles and the sight of young students stopped her on her feet, and just in time. - "Eh?... Already?" - She was already walking away from the Cafe at that moment.

The commotion outside was bigger than usual.

People talks big, that's no surprise. Rumors spread around the place and soon it came to Ranma's ears who wasn't too farm from the scene of crime, not that she was paying full attention to her surroundings up until now.

"Hey, what's going on?" - Ranma asked to an unknown student.

"You haven't heard? They aren't serving today. The waitress seems to be ill"

A coincidence, or perhaps something did happen today. Kasumi said Shampoo left in a gloomy state. Ranma was getting more worried now. Maybe Shampoo didn't liked the view of Ryoga snuggling on to her body so cheerfully, or maybe they exceeded the joke, not that it had been a joke to her though.

"Ryoga..." - She had to stop, now wasn't the time loose herself in her thoughts.

Pushing forward she walked until she reached the door of the restaurant, moving the bicycle above the people to avoid clashing with them.

It said closed on the sign and everyone was concern about what happened, yet nobody seem to have what it takes to go ahead and ask what happened.

It seemed unlocked, and Ranma was the brave one to enter. - "Excuse me! I'm coming in! Shampoo, Old Mummy!"

"Hey, shouldn't we stop her?" - A girl on the front noticed it first.

Then the girl next to her. - "I don't think she can't. I won't get involved though, that old mummy can be scary"

It seemed somewhat deserted from the inside. In fact, it looked like if all life had banished and all that remained were the spirits of the residents. Not a good sign.

"O-Oi, is anybody here? Shampoo!" - Her voice echoed across the room, there were no lights or any other indication someone was there, but she had to try and call again. - "You forgot your bicycle at my place, I've come to give it back to you!"

"Nobody, huh?..." - Checking all the rooms was tedious, especially when it has the aura of a haunted place. Not that it scared her. It was just, odd. With the floor creaking and the feeling of the walls becoming larger by all sides. - "I'll leave it here then! I'll—Gwah!" - In a flash though, Ranma felt such a strong pull from the back of her shirt that she pretty much flew a few meters away from her spot before landing on the cold wood floor. - "O-Old lady! What the hell?!"

"Silence, young one. Tell me this, are you in love with someone else?!" - Cologne stood her staff and herself right on top of Ranma's chest, making sure she wouldn't run away from her.

"E-Eh?! I-In love? What do you mean?" - The question was sudden, too sudden for one that was about to have heart-attack just a moment ago, just to be hit again by the question of love.

"Answer me. Shampoo saw everything this morning!"

Ranma wanted to laugh like if all were a joke, but it was a question that she had been nagging her for a while now. Something bugged her deep in her mind and didn't allowed her to pay attention to what was happening around her. It seems the gods wanted her to solve this problem already, or she would never live at peace again.

"Beautiful Akane... N-No, it wasn't like that..." - Ryoga kept practicing his usual words, or at least trying to enjoy them as much as he used to do so. - "My sweet, precious Akane..."

"Ryoga..."

"Ranma?" - He had to look around, it all sounded too close to his ear, could be that he was going crazy already, thinking that Ranma would be calling for this name so early in the morning.

It was a complicated thing. Love. Hardships. Grudges. Ryoga tried to fool himself that he still worshiped Akane like if she were his one and true love, but it didn't felt that way. He even tried the same words for Akari later on as he kept walking.

Somehow...

"RYOGA!"

... It seemed as if he had summoned the devil herself.

"Gweaaahh! - Ryoga had all the rights of the world to jump away with her sudden appearance and to remain as a stone for more than just a moment. - "A-Akari?! What are you doing here?!"

Being surprised by your girlfriend while trying to talk sweetly to one-self, while pretending it was someone else, wasn't the best kind of situation to be encountered.

"Moron, you've been missing for a month already, I searched for you on the mountain but you weren't there. Meanie! You were here and didn't told me!"

Right, it was true. He was gone from his home in order to train and become stronger to defeat Ranma. - "Sorry. I was planning to return but then—"

"Then what?"

Ranma... Of course. It seems these days no matter what he tried or no mattered where he went, it's almost like if fate wanted them to meet each other over and over again. Not that there was something wrong or dangerous with that, not anymore that is.

"Tell me this, are you in love with someone else?!"

"Ah?" - A distant voice once again distracted him from his thoughts and also from the current situation. The voice of a woman, or of an old ghoul. It was hard to tell the difference. Both.

Akari looked dumbfounded, as if she was found talking to a wall. - "What?"

"N-Nothing, I must go for my backpack"

"Ryoga... Your backpack is already with you" - Said as she kept pointing it at him.

He was already carrying his umbrella on his dominant hand and his backpack on the other. His neck looked red from smacking the heavy thing against himself while he was thinking. He didn't remembered when he picked them up. He just remembered Ranma. - "It's true. I must have hit my head quite hard today, ah? Hahahah!"

"Then let's go back home" - She was already happy to see him, and she didn't seem the kind of person that likes to walk alone. So she did what anyone else would do. Akari hugged his arm and snuggled herself against his body.

"A-Akari?! W-What are you doing?"

She looked back at him with her wide smile and innocence. Her eyes were sparkling and her hands didn't wanted to let go from his hand or his arm. - "Isn't this what lovers do?"

"Lovers..." - Ryoga felt a pain in the chest and part of him wanted to back her away from his personal space. It didn't felt right. At the beginning, he accepted it because it was the only kind of love that he gained when it comes to women. Recently though, visiting and seeing and talking and sleeping with Ranma, felt much more satisfying than what he was doing with Akari. - "It'll rain today..."