Enter Ryoga! The Eternal Lost Boy.

Ranma caught up to Akane just as she tossed a giant rock into the river. He might have missed her if she hadn't thrown it.

She didn't appear to be crying, but completely lost in thought.

He approached her quietly, but she still heard him and flicked her eyes toward him before returning them to the water.

She didn't say anything for a long moment, and finally sighed. "I wasn't ready to go home yet."

Ranma watched her. He wished he could read her better. She was the portrait of calm, but he knew she had a mix of emotions swirling inside. "Do you...want to talk about it?"

Akane watched the water a moment longer before speaking again. "Kasumi's perfect. I just... can't compare."

Ranma rubbed the back of his neck. "Kasumi's great and all... but I think she'd probably hurt herself trying to take on dozens of guys at once fighting for her attention."

Akane turned her head in his direction and looked at him incredulously.

Ranma put his hands behind his head. "And she definitely wouldn't have been able to tell my ribs got hit in that fight with Kuno. Or been able to track my moves." He gave her a grin. "And I bet her eyes don't have that fire that yours have."

Akane turned to face him fully and took a step closer to him. He couldn't read her expression. "What are you trying to say?"

Ranma shrugged. What was he trying to say? "Just that you're comparing two different types of girl. You'll never be Kasumi."

Akane cast her eyes to her feet, a small pour on her lips.

Ranma leaned down so he could see her face. "But she'll never be Akane."

She looked at him with surprise and maybe a little admiration. He hoped it was that, at least. He had all but told her he liked her with those words. Now he just had to hope she would get the message.

Akane gave him a sad smile. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up," she told him. She grabbed her bag from the grass and glanced at him over her shoulder. "Do you want to go home now?"

Ranma watched her carefully. Either she understood what he was trying to say and she was ignoring it or she didn't understand and he was going to have to be more direct. "I was thinkin' about gettin' some food."

Akane nodded. "Okay." She turned and started up the hill toward the road.

Ranma caught up with her. "I could use some company!" he said quickly. "I've got no idea what's good around here."

Akane tilted her head at him, the clouds in her eyes receding. "Are you... asking me on a date?"

Ranma wanted to agree, but if her reaction in the exam room had taught him anything, it was that he had to handle this situation with care. He had to give her the chance to like him back before he confessed.

He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "If you wanna call it that."

Akane scrutinized him for a moment. Her eyes searching for something and he hoped she wouldn't find it. After a moment she took a small breath and said, "Okay. As friends."

Damn! So close!

"Sounds good to me," he agreed, hating himself for every word. He should have said, "Friends ain't my aim, Akane." But that would be far too forward right now.

Akane ran her fingers through her hair and looked absently as town as though she were thinking about what to do with him. She was probably considering the least romantic option. "There's a place that makes pretty good burgers," she suggested.

"Burgers work for me," he agreed. Burgers still counted as a real date, right? Even if they were technically going as friends? The fact that they were betrothed averaged out to make it an actual date date, right?

"I'll lead," Akane said as she began waking.

:)

I must be losing my mind!

Akane tried to avoid eye contact with Ranma as they sat on a bench eating their food. He'd insisted on treating, so she questioned whether or not they were truly here as "friends". She wasn't stupid. She knew the look he had given her. She just wasn't prepared to sort through those feelings while also coming to terms with her feelings for Dr. Tofu.

"So these burgers are the best around here?" Ranma asked her, unwrapping his burger.

"Uh huh," Akane replied, still trying to keep her eyes off him.

"So you'd bet on it?" Ranma asked.

Akane looked at him, finally. "Bet on it?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, leaning back in his seat. "Would you bet this is the best burger around here?"

Akane looked back to the burger in her hands. "In town, yeah. I guess I would."

Ranma laughed softly. "Then I guess we try each one and if these aren't the best, you'll owe me something."

Akane turned to him and lowered her eyebrows. "Hey!"

Ranma shrugged. "That's how bets work."

Akane went to reply when she heard something approaching and knocked it out of the air. A Chinese style umbrella lay on the ground before her.

"I finally found you, Ranma!" a male voice called out.

Ranma was on his feet and moving defensively around Akane.

Akane eyed him, but didn't comment.

A boy in a yellow bandana approached them, a large hiking backpack strapped to his back.

Ranma's muscles tightened and he became tense. "Ryoga," he said coldly.

Akane glanced from Ranma to Ryoga. The fighting aura was permeating the entire park.

"You coward!" Ryoga spat, rage boiling in his brown eyes. "I knew I would catch up to you!"

"I ain't no coward!" Ranma responded, gritting his teeth.

"Ranma?" Akane said, hoping to ask who this boy was.

"Go home, Akane," Ranma commanded.

Akane turned to the bandana boy. He definitely was a fighter, and possibly on the same level as Ranma, but he didn't strike her as evil.

"Prepare to die, Ranma!" Ryoga called as he rushed at Ranma, his pack falling to the ground where he once stood.

Akane moved to the umbrella, hoping to toss it to Ranma as a weapon and found herself struggling to lift it. She realized then that Ryoga wasn't just a fighter, he was an incredibly strong fighter.

She whipped her head around to see the two of them fighting, Ryoga appeared much more lethal now.

Ranma was fast enough to avoid his blows, which was good because she wasn't sure he would be strong enough to withstand being hit by one.

Ryoga put force into each attack, the air alone shaking the trees around them.

Ranma dodged attack after attack. He had a fluid grace to his defensive martial arts that Akane envied. He dodged another attack and did a rolling backspin before landing by her.

"Go home, I said," he snapped at her.

Akane shook her head. "I'm not leaving you here! What if you get hurt?"

Ranma looked at her seriously. "And what if you get hurt?"

"Don't ignore me!" Ryoga called and he threw some spinning bandanas that acted as blades, cutting anything they touched.

Ranma dodged them and tried to take Akane with him.

"Watch it! She's got nothin' to do with this!" Ranma yelled at him, landing on a tree and setting Akane down. "Are you all right?"

Akane nodded and moved away from him. "I think so."

Ranma's eyes widened at her.

Akane began feeling herself for injury. She hadn't felt herself get cut anywhere. What was he looking at? As she moved her head, she noticed loose hair falling near her shoulders. She tentatively raised her fingers to her head and traced some strands from the scalp to where they came to an abrupt end. Her breath caught in her throat. She had been growing her hair out for years in an attempt to have it longer than Kasumi's.

"Akane..."

Akane turned her attention to Ryoga. Strong or not, he had committed an act of pure evil against her! She could only see red as she leapt from the branch toward him.