A/N: *Blink, blink* Wow. That's a lot of reviews... Um, thanks everyone for the reviews. I love reviews, and the more I get, the faster I write, as you can see by how fast I got my second chapter up. Anyway, I have some responses to your reviews after the chapter, so be sure to check those out. Oh, and I think that I'm going to put up one chapter every two days until this story is completed. My guess is that there's going to be a total of five or six chapters, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, enjoy chapter 2 and PLEASE review!

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Akane was relieved to find the hot spring completely vacant. She felt the strong urge to be alone. She sighed as she entered the warm water and made her way over to the partition. She sat down on a rock and leaned against it.

"What a day," she sighed. Earlier, when her train had reached Kyoto Station she had hurriedly woken up and grabbed her stuff. She quickly abandoned the popular tourist area for the more quiet streets of Kyoto. Instead of taking a bus to a hotel, she walked along the streets examining the shops and watching the many foreign tourists. Unfortunately for Akane, her sight seeing was cut short when it started raining. The storm hit so suddenly and so heavily that she was drenched before she could get to any shelter. Her original intent to leisurely choose a nice hotel to stay at was forsaken and she instead rushed to the closest hotel she could find. Then of course it had stopped raining as soon as she had checked in. "Figures," she mumbled to herself. "The perfect beginning to the perfect vacation from my perfect life," she growled emphasizing each 'perfect' with large traces of sarcasm. "Oh well. At least I chose a nice place to stay. It even has its own hot spring." She looked around her. Suddenly she realized that she had been there before. "That's right! Why didn't I realize it before now? This is the same place we were staying when Mom…" She trailed off not wanting to remember that day.

"I wish she was still here. She'd know what to do about this whole mess. Things would be so different. So normal." A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed in the warm water. "It's all so wrong! Why couldn't I have had a simple life like her? She met Daddy, fell in love and got married. Simple enough, right? But I can't have anything like that with Ranma. I mean after all, our first meeting was anything but pleasant. And even though we've sort of dated a few times I can't say I've been able to fully enjoy it. After all, we were hardly alone, considering our fathers kept popping up out of no where with the video camera and Ranma's fiancées kept showing up and ruining things. Besides, we were both too busy denying the fact that we were on a date to really enjoy ourselves. And we've never even kissed. Well, not really. And even though there are times when I feel that I might possibly sort of love him, I don't know how he feels about me. What if he never loves me and we're forced to get married? I couldn't stand being in a loveless marriage." She sighed. "If Mom was still alive, I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. I know she would've never allowed Father to arrange my engagement to someone without my consent." She paused. "Then again, if he hadn't arranged our marriage, I probably never would've met Ranma at all." She stopped for a moment letting the thought sink in.

"Ah, listen to me. I'm starting to be affected by all those movies Yuka and Sayuri have been dragging me too. Love doesn't exist like it does in the movies. It's stupid to want a fairytale romance like that. It's not real.

"But all that aside, I can't even see any way for Ranma and I to be together. Every time we start to get close something happens to ruin the moment. All of our weddings have been destroyed, and there's no reason to think that any weddings we have in the future would produce different results whether we were willing to get married or not. So what then? We'll just all stay engaged to Ranma for the rest of our lives and no one will ever actually marry him?"

She sighed. "I just don't know what to do. I can't see any way out of this. And I miss my mom so much. How I wish she was here. I just know she would make everything better."

Several tears trickled down her face slowly until she gave up trying to hold them back. "After all, no one's here. I can cry." And she did, letting out all her pent up frustrations.

* * * *

If Akane had been upset about the rain then Ranma was simply furious. "Stupid bad weather. Does it have to follow me everywhere I go? Geez, I swear, water is simply out to get me," said the dripping wet red head. Ranma had checked into her hotel, dropped off her stuff in her room and headed straight for the hot spring. She couldn't find any hot water anywhere else and she was shivering. She hoped that a nice dip in the warm water would cheer her up.

Ranma made her way carefully into the boy's side of the hot spring. She was relieved to find that no one was in there. The last thing she needed was some confrontation about her curse. As she stepped into the water her transformation triggered.

"Much better." He sat down and relaxed trying to forget about recent events. However, he wasn't so successful and eventually gave in to the thoughts that flooded through his mind. "Ah, what to do, what to do? As much as I'd like to just run away for good, I have to go back eventually. I'm not going to be like Pops and run away from my responsibilities. Still, I wish that every once in a while I could just get a break from it all. Just kind of like this I suppose.

"I wish they'd realize that I can't marry all of them. Ah geez, there's no way out of this is there? No matter how many times I think about it, there's no way around it. I can't get out of my engagement with Shampoo because of those stupid Amazon laws, and even if it wasn't for the laws, there's no way Cologne would let me out of it. I can't get out of the engagement with Ukyo without hurting my best friend, not to mention I'm honor bound to marry her after taking her dowry, even though I knew nothing about it at the time. Then of course I can't get Kodachi to leave me alone because she's, well, she's just insane. I can't get out of the engagement with Akane because my father would disown me and my mom would probably force me to commit seppuku. Plus I've kind of gotten used to the idea of marrying her. I don't even really mind anymore." He sighed. "It's not about making my choice I guess. It's just that I can't break free from the other girls."

He looked up at the sky. "Akane. I wonder what she's doing right now?" It was then that he heard the sound of someone crying. Curious as to what was going on he made his way over to the partition between the girl's side and the boy's side to where the sound was coming from. Ranma always hated it when girls cried, and this case was no exception. Still he had no idea what to do about it. It wasn't any of his business or anything. Yet he couldn't just leave her like that.

"Hey," he said cautiously. "You okay over there?"

Akane jerked her head up at the voice. She had been sure that no one else was occupying the hot springs. She composed herself a little in order to respond. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was over there."

"That's alright. You're not bothering me, I just want to make sure you're alright. Is something wrong?"

"That's very nice of you to be concerned, but I'm okay, really. No need for me to burden you with my troubles."

"You couldn't burden me. You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want, but I just figured it might do you some good to talk to someone. It's never good to be alone when you're upset. It only makes things seem worse than they really are." She didn't say anything and Ranma started to fidget. He never knew how to handle such situations. "We don't have to talk about whatever's upsetting you. We can talk about anything you want. Besides, I could use a good conversation to get my mind off of things as well. How about it?"

Akane smiled a little. "You're very kind."

Ranma smiled as well upon hearing the smile in her voice. It seemed that he was actually doing something to cheer the girl up. "So hey, what brings you to Kyoto then?"

Akane frowned. That was keeping her on the subject she was supposedly trying to forget. "I believe it was the train." Ranma laughed and Akane smiled a little more as well. "What about you?"

"Well, if you're referring to transportation, the train as well. If you're referring to why I'm here, well let's just say I needed a little vacation. I just graduated from high school and all." It wasn't exactly a lie, he figured. He was just leaving out a few things. Wouldn't do any good to unload his troubles on the poor girl when he was attempting to cheer her up.

"Really? Me too! I haven't even really gotten a chance to think about it yet. I'm finished with school now. Well, unless I go to college."

"You mean you don't know if you're going or not?"

"No. I want to, but I doubt I'll be able to. Well, at least I know I'm not going to start this year. I have too many things to deal with. What about you? You planning on going to college?"

"Me?" Ranma laughed. It wasn't the type of thought that ever crossed his mind. He always figured as soon as he was through with high school he'd be free for good. You didn't need a college education to be the best martial artist in the world, he'd always reasoned. "Nah, people like me don't need to go to college. It's not necessary for my profession."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Pheh. You sound like my fiancée."

"Oh, so you're engaged then?" Ranma was slightly relieved. "At least I don't have to worry about this girl falling for me like all the rest," he thought, as his ego swelled ever so slightly.

"Oh, um yes, actually I am."

"Well, that's nice. So am I actually."

"I wouldn't exactly use the word 'nice' to describe it."

"What do you mean?"

"It was an arranged marriage."

Ranma laughed. "No kidding? So is mine. Got to love parents."

"Yeah, tell me about it. It's so outdated, don't you think?"

"Definitely! I mean it's not so much that I mind marrying A-, her. It just seems like it's the type of thing I should be able to decide for myself."

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

"I mean, you'd think having a marriage arranged for you would save you the hassles but it doesn't. I don't even know how she feels about me."

"And I don't know how he feels about me." They both sighed.

"And then there's always somebody else." Ranma continued on fuming.

"Oh, of course!" Akane chimed in.

"Every time you start getting closer…"

"Something pops up out of nowhere and gets in your way!" Akane finished for him.

"Yeah!" Ranma said almost shouting. He then paused. "Is that why you're here?" He asked in a softer voice. "To get away from things?"

Akane sighed. "Yeah."

"Yeah, me too," he admitted. "I'm sorry. Here I am trying to get us thinking about other things and we're back to square one."

"It's okay. I appreciate you trying, but I can't seem to keep my mind off of it."

"Me either."

"Pathetic, isn't it?"

"Yep." They were both silent for a moment. "Do you miss him?"

"Honestly? Yes. But I'm not sure why really. I mean, I don't know if I miss him because he's just such a huge part of my life that it seems strange to be without him or because… well, you know. What about you, do you miss her?

He thought for a moment. "Well, I definitely don't miss my life back there. It's just crazy. But her, I don't know. I mean we fight all the time, although we've been getting along really well lately…" He thought back to a few moments ago when he had been wondering what Akane was doing. "Yeah, I miss her."

Akane smiled. She was relieved to know that not all guys were completely insensitive. She liked the fact that she had found someone with similar experiences as her. It helped her to get the perspective of the situation from a boy's point of view. She figured that if she asked him some questions she could get an idea about how Ranma felt about things.

"Say, do you think if your parents hadn't arranged the whole engagement you would get along with her better?"

Ranma laughed. "Definitely. The whole arranged marriage thing put a huge strain on our relationship. You could probably say we were doomed to not get along. It sure would be nice if we could start over or something. If it wasn't for our first meeting I'm sure things would've gone a lot smoother for us."

"Well, it couldn't have been worse than when I first met my fiancée, believe me."

"I highly doubt it. Nothing could've gone worse."

They both decided to drop the subject; although they were both fully confident their experience was worse. However, the last thing they wanted to do was explain the whole Jusenkyo curse thing. Plus, it wasn't the best conversation to have with someone you had just met. It tended to make you sound a little bit nuts.

"Well, but what about you then? Think things would've gone differently for you and your fiancée?"

"Yes. If I had it to do over again, I would have handled our first meeting differently. You see, we started fighting the first day we met, and that whole experience set the tone for our entire relationship. It's been really difficult trying to break out of that pattern. When we first met I could tell he really needed a friend, and I tried to be that for him." Akane began to feel guilty as she usually did when recalling the memory. "But then after it was decided that we were going to be engaged, I got angry and said some horrible things. I turned on him, just when he needed me the most. Once I got to know him better I realized how wrong I had been. I mean yeah, he said some pretty horrible things to me as well, but it wasn't until after I became angry with him. Looking back everything he said was probably just to cover up the hurt he was feeling. I don't know if he's ever gotten past that."

Ranma felt sickened himself as Akane told the story. It reminded him of how he had felt when Akane and he had met. He would never admit it to his father, but after getting his curse, he had felt really insecure, and was constantly afraid of people rejecting him because of it. After he met Akane, he had been so happy to finally make a friend, someone he could trust. And then, just when he had started to trust her, think that maybe she would be somebody who could see past his curse, she turned on him and said all those things that he had been so afraid to hear ever since Jusenkyo. So he had insulted her in order to cover up the pain he felt, and they had fought ever since. Still, as time had gone on, he had begun to trust Akane again. She didn't see him as the things that she had called him that first day when they met. She really could see past all that, and eventually, he had been able to forgive her for that first day.

"He's forgiven you. I'm sure of it. People get angry at times and they take it out on whomever they can. He understands how you were feeling, believe me."

"I hope you're right." She paused feeling a little uncomfortable and changed the subject. "Have you ever been betrayed by your best friend?"

Ranma stiffened. "No."

"You're lucky then."

"I don't know about that. It's kind of like the whole saying 'It's better to have loved and to have lost than to never have loved at all.' Well, I've only never been betrayed by a best friend because I've never really had one."

"Oh. That is sad. May I ask why?"

"I don't really know to tell you the truth. I used to tell myself it was because I was always traveling and I never got to stay in one place long enough to really make friends, but now I realize that was just an excuse. I mean, now I have friends and all, but I can't bring myself to really trust them. I mean one of my best friends is in love with me so every time we're together I have to be worried about her trying to use some scheme to get me to marry her or something. Then another one of my friends is in love with my fiancée so that kind of complicates things. And then there's my fiancée. I mean I guess she's the closest I've ever had to a true friend, but we just never seem to get along for very long. And I can't talk to her about everything, like my relationship with her obviously. Things are just so complicated between us. But I don't know. Maybe someday we'll be able to get past all that. I hope so at least."

Akane wished the same thing for her and Ranma. She knew she'd do anything to be better friends with him at least. "I'm sure you can, someday. She probably wants the same thing."

Ranma smiled but was feeling a little awkward nonetheless. He decided to go along with her attempt to change the subject. "Why do you ask, though?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated. But you see, I had this… friend I guess, and I told him all my secrets all the time. Whenever something was wrong, I would tell him about it, and I'd usually feel so much better. It seemed like he was always there for me when I needed him. But then it turned out he wasn't exactly who I thought he was. I had trusted him, and he abused that trust. I just don't think I can ever forgive him, but I want to, because if I don't, then I've lost someone that was really important to me."

Ranma couldn't help thinking of Ryoga. Even though he didn't approve of what Ryoga had done to Akane, he felt for the guy. He had been wrong, but he had only done it because of his feelings for Akane. And he felt bad for Akane as well. He knew how much she had loved P-chan and how much her pet pig had comforted her. And Ryoga had been one of her closest friends. Now she had lost both of them. "Look, don't be too hard on the guy. I mean he was wrong to betray you like that, but I'm sure he had his reasons. All I'm saying is you should give him another chance. I'm sure he's sorry."

"I suppose you're right." Akane said, her voice sounding as cheerless as it had when they first started talking.

"Hey, I'm not doing a very good job of taking your mind off of things. You want to try to talk about something else again?"

"Sure, I guess. It's worth a try."

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Ranma and Akane talked like that for a long time, both of them trying to avoid mentioning the things that had been bothering them. They both found it strange that even though they had just met, they were able to hit it off so well. It was almost as if they had known each other for years.

Akane laughed as Ranma told her some funny story. It was strange how this boy could make her feel so much better about things. She couldn't help feeling sad that they would probably never be able to meet again. After all it was so rare to meet someone you connected with so well.

Ranma couldn't remember the last time he had a conversation with someone like he was having with the strange girl. Actually he didn't think he ever had, really. It had been so nice for him to just open up to someone in a way that he felt he never could with anyone else.

Ranma was in the middle of his sentence when suddenly his stomach growled so loudly that Akane could hear it from the other side of the hot spring. She giggled.

"Ah, that reminds me, it's getting rather late and neither of us have had dinner yet. We've been talking out here for quite some time."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm starting to get all wrinkled."

She laughed. "Me too. Well, I suppose I should get going then. It must be fairly late."

"Yeah me too."

Pause. "It was… really nice talking to you. And thank you. You really did help cheer me up."

"I really enjoyed talking to you as well." He hesitated for a moment. "Do you mind if I ask your name?"

"I'm…" Akane paused. She had no problem with giving the stranger her real name, but she felt in might turn out to be troublesome. Not wanting her family to track her down easily or have anyone recognize her name she had registered for the hotel under the name of Ayame Higarashi, her mother's maiden name. "I'm never going to see him again after I leave anyway," she thought to herself. "I guess it doesn't really matter."

"I'm Ayame Higarashi. And you?"

Ranma sighed. "Now that was stupid," he thought, "Of course she would ask as well." He had given the hotel a fake name as well. Although he doubted Nabiki would bother to track him down, he figured his fiancées wouldn't wait very long to chase after him, and he didn't want to make it any easier for them to find him. Plus, it seemed that everywhere he went someone would pop up and claim to be his fiancée. He didn't really want to give out his fake name to the girl, but knowing his luck, if he did give his real namesomething would happen to make him wish he hadn't. "I'm Kenji Saotouyo."

Akane flinched at the last name. "Saotouyo?

Ranma flinched as well. When the lady at the counter of the hotel had asked for a name, he started to give her Saotome but then thought twice about giving his real name and ended with Saotouyo. The check in lady had given him a very funny look.

"Yeah, I uh think it's English or something."

Akane raised her eyebrow. It definitely didn't sound English to her, but she decided not to mention it. "Anyway, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you for trying to cheer me up."

"Hey sure. Anytime. It was nice talking to you too." A heavy silence fell between them.

"Well then," Akane finally started. "I guess I better get going. Once again, nice talking to you. Goodbye," she finished lamely.

He listened to the sound of the water splashing as she got up and started to leave. A battle within him started as he tried to decide whether or not to stop her. "Akane would kill me for even talking to her in the first place. But then I don't know anyone here and it'd be so nice to have someone to talk with. And she seemed so nice…"

"Dinner!" He finally shouted at the last second.

Akane stopped. She was almost to the edge of the water, but when he had spoken she started making her way back. "Huh?"

"I uh mean, do you eat dinner? Well yeah I mean of course you eat dinner, um, ah." Ranma took a deep breath. "You see I don't really know anyone in the city and it's just so lonely eating by myself." Another pause. "Would you like to have dinner with me? It's my treat."

Akane was a bit taken aback. Just moments ago she was thinking she'd never hear from him again, and now he was asking her to dinner? As much as she had enjoyed his company and he seemed like a nice enough person, he was still a stranger, and she wasn't the type of girl to go around meeting with complete strangers in strange cities where she didn't know anyone. Ever since the whole incident with Ryoga, her trust in people had been fading. Plus, she couldn't help think that the whole proposition did sound a bit like a date. "I don't know."

Ranma sensed her hesitation. "I mean it wouldn't be like a date or anything. After all, both of us are engaged. Just two people eating. Really! I just enjoyed talking to you. I hate thinking that I'm never going to speak to you again or ever see you face to face." Ranma shook his head noticing he was sounding a little too desperate. "What am I saying?" he thought. Still, he knew it was very much true. There was just something about the girl. He didn't know what it was, but the thought of her simply walking away without him ever speaking to her again terrified him. At the same time, he had a strange desire to see what she looked like. But he was sure he had scared her off. "I can understand if you don't want to. It's fine, no pressure or anything."

Akane was still a little suspicious, but she figured she might as well go. After all, she really did want to. "Dinner sounds nice."

"Great!" Ranma said a little more excited than he had intended. He calmed himself down. "I saw a pretty good restaurant around the corner on my way to the hotel. How about I meet you there in about a half hour?"

"Alright, sounds good. See you in a bit." She started to leave again but stopped. "Oh, by the way, in case you have trouble finding me I'll be wearing a white hat with a blue ribbon."

"Okay, I'll be looking for you then."

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End of Chapter 2

Author Notes:

General - Yeah, I know, it is a little unbelievable that Ranma and Akane didn't recognize each other's voices, but by the same token Keitaro and Naru from Love Hina should have recognized each other's voices as well. Besides, there are a lot of things in Ranma 1/2 that aren't that realistic, unless you think a guy turning into a girl when splashed with cold water is normal. So personally I don't find the inability to recognize someone's voice a huge stretch. Also, I'm sorry to those of you who wanted this story to be closely based on the Love Hina episode. As far as I can tell, the only similarities between the two stories is the location and the general idea. I just got the idea for the story after watching the episode. It was never my intention to base it on the Love Hina plotline. It's been so long since I've seen that episode I don't even really remember it.

Kyoto - After reading a bit of information about Kyoto I went back and changed some parts of this chapter. On a side note, weather in Kyoto, especially around July and August, which is about the time this story is taking place, is very nice. It would be unlikely for a strong rain storm to suddenly appear. However, considering water seems to be attracted to people with Jusenkyo curses, I figured a rain storm wouldn't be too unrealistic for a Ranma 1/2 story. Also, there are many hotels in the area around Kyoto Station. Therefore, the fact that Ranma and Akane ended up staying at the exact same one is highly unlikely. But I'm willing to assume fate is playing it's hand in this story. I do not know if there are any hotels in the area that actually have hot springs, but I don't find it that unlikely. I do know there are a few that have public baths though.

Reviews - Once again, thank you very much to all my reviewers for taking the time to read my story and respond to it. I'm also really glad that you all seem to be enjoying the story so much! Keep reviewing and letting me know what you think and I'll keep putting my chapters up at a rapid pace. Like I've mentioned before I've already written the whole story and I just need to make a few adjustments and touch ups, so it's not going to take me very long. Anyway, here's some of my responses to the reviews I received.

Midnyghtbebop: Lol, no I definitely don't want to have any deaths on my shoulders. Don't worry, I'll update as fast as I possibly can!

Kanme Jrung: There's a very good reason for the fact that it's similar to the Love Hina episode. That's where I got the idea to begin with. :-)

Erie Maxwell: This isn't really based on Love Hina at all. That's just how I got the idea. Sorry. In reference to the elopement jokes... Let's just say I think you'll be pleased.

Sara: Sorry, they didn't realize that they were sitting next to each other, but personally I think it's a little more interesting this way. Don't you agree?

To everyone else, thanks for liking my story so far and I promise I'll be fast at updating!