A/N: Yea! Chapter 3! Um thank you so much everyone for your reviews. As promised I got my third chapter out really quickly. Hope you like it. Be sure to review and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
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Ranma walked down the street a half hour later. His resolve had been drastically slipping since he had last talked to the girl he had just met. "What are you doing Ranma? If Akane knew you were meeting with some girl she'd kill you!" As he walked down the streets his eyes caught a flower stand and his pace slowed as he started to consider buying her some flowers. "Agh! No, no, no! This is not a date! It's just two people getting together for dinner! I said so much to her." He forcefully resumed walking at a quicker pace. "There's just something about this girl." He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at a stone. "Does this mean that I'm not in love with Akane? There were times that I was so sure I was, and before talking to Ayame I was beginning to miss her already. But if I love Akane, then why am I thinking so much about Ayame?" He looked up at the sign in front of him. "Well, here's the place I guess." He walked inside and looked around for the described girl with a white hat with blue ribbon.
"Can I help you Sir?" asked the waiter behind him.
"Um, yeah, I'm looking for someone named Ayame Higarashi."
"Ah yes of course, right this way Sir."
Ranma followed the man over to a table towards the middle of the room. Somewhere ahead of him he caught sight of a woman in a white hat with a blue ribbon. He couldn't see her whole face because she was looking off to the side. "That must be her," he thought. The girl then turned around so he could see her face. Ranma's mouth dropped and he quickly jumped behind a table. "What the hell is Akane doing here?" he gasped under his breath. "Did she see me?" He peeked his head over the table. Akane was still sitting there, calmly looking around. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief realizing she hadn't seen him.
The people at the tables around Ranma were beginning to look at him inquisitively and whispering. "Phew, that was close," Ranma breathed. "I guess I can't meet Ayame here." He thought for a second. "Wait a minute. Where have I heard that name before? Ayame Higarashi… Right! That was the name of Akane's mother." He peeked over the table again and looked at Akane. "And she is wearing a white hat with a blue ribbon." Ranma slowly put two and two together. "Ah man, I've got to get out of here." He started to creep away on the ground behind the tables but paused. "But I have to find out what she's doing here. And why would she go out with some stranger anyway? I can't believe she's cheating on me like that…"
"Is there a problem Sir?"
Ranma looked up at the waiter who was looking at him with a rather calm expression considering the circumstances.
"Uh, sort of," Ranma whispered. "Small change of plans, can you seat me at that table over there instead?" He pointed towards a table that was positioned behind Akane and slightly in the dark.
"Yes, of course Sir." He paused. "Would you like me to cause a distraction while you make your way over there?"
Ranma looked at the waiter in relief. "Really? That would be great!"
"Very good Sir. Here, take a menu with you. It might come in handy." The waiter turned and walked over to Akane's table and began to talk to her. Ranma managed to make his way to his own table without being noticed and attributed his success to his great skill in martial arts. However, in actuality, Ranma only made his way to the table after tripping over a chair and smashing into a waiter carrying a tray full of food. It was only thanks to the waiter talking to Akane that he wasn't noticed, at least not by Akane. Ranma sat at his table and put the menu in front of his face. "What on earth is Akane doing in Kyoto?" he wondered once again. "And why is she agreeing to go out on a date with some stranger? We almost got married last week and now she's off trying to meet other guys! I should just go over there and give her a piece of my mind!" He was about to do just that when the waiter came over to him.
"Is there anything I can get you Sir?"
"Huh?" Ranma said unintelligently having been so focused on Akane that he hadn't noticed the waiter coming over to him. "Oh um, no, nothing, maybe just a glass of water for now."
"Yes Sir." He started to walk away but stopped. "I know it's none of my concern, Sir, but Miss Ayame seems quite delightful, and she's hardly unattractive. I think you're making a mistake avoiding her like this."
"Oh, no it's nothing like that." He pointed over at Akane. "You see, she's my fiancée, and she's not supposed to know that I'm here."
The waiter was now thoroughly confused. "Then why did you agree to meet with her?"
"I didn't know it was her. You see I was talking to this girl at the hotel I'm staying at and she sounded nice so I thought I'd ask her to dinner and it turns out she's my fiancée."
The waiter was still confused. "How did you not know that the woman you were talking to at the hotel was your fiancée?"
"Well, I was talking to her at the hot springs in the hotel and she was on the other side of the partition. Plus, she gave me a different name for some reason. Make sense?"
"Vaguely. You must admit these kinds of things don't happen every day."
Ranma laughed. "They do to me."
The waiter raised his eyebrow. "Yes indeed. But Sir, I still don't understand why you don't just go over there and explain the situation to the lady."
"Because she's not supposed to know I'm in Kyoto. See, we almost got married last week but there were complications and it didn't go through. Anyway, I needed to get away for a little while to clear my head so I came to Kyoto and she doesn't know that I'm here, or anyone else. Plus I can't believe her! Here we almost get married and now she's off in Kyoto trying to get dates with random guys she meets in hot springs! Unbelievable!"
"But Sir, isn't that exactly what you're doing?"
"Of course not! I just asked her out as a friend, when I thought she was Ayame that is."
"Then if it wasn't a date for you how is it a date for her?"
Ranma thought about that for a minute. "It's just different."
"Whatever you say Sir." The waiter walked away.
Ranma sighed. He knew the waiter was right. 'Ayame' had seemed very reluctant to meet with him, whereas he had been the one that was so afraid of never talking to the girl again. "If anyone's being unfaithful, it's me." He watched as Akane looked around the place nervously. "What are you doing here, Akane?" It was then that he started to remember his conversation with 'Ayame.' "She really sounded upset at first. I guess we're both here for the same reason. We both just needed some time to think I guess. I wonder what she's thinking of doing now. And what am I going to do?" He noticed he was still looking at her and smiled. "I guess she is kind of cute when she wants to be."
The waiter came back with a glass of water for Ranma. "You ready to order now Sir?"
"No, not yet."
The waiter paused for a moment. "Sir, I know it's none of my concern, but about the lady, don't you think maybe you should give her a note or something letting her know that you're not going to be coming?"
Ranma thought for a moment. "Huh, I hadn't really thought about it. Maybe I should wait to see how long she stays."
"Sir, if I should be so bold, don't you think that's kind of a horrible thing to do to someone, especially someone you're engaged to? And what exactly do you want her to do? Wait for a long time, or a short time?"
"Well, a short time of course, that shows that she doesn't really care about this guy too much."
"But Sir, you're the guy. If she doesn't wait a long time it's like she's not interested in you."
"Well, yeah but… no it's different cause…" He gave up. "You're no ordinary waiter are you?"
"Just doing my job Sir."
"Uh huh. Whatever you say." He thought for a moment and looked over at Akane. She looked very out of place. It was rather sad how she kept looking at her watch every few minutes. The people around her were giving her pitying looks as well. Ranma sighed. It was a rather cruel thing to do to her. "I guess you're right. Maybe I should write her a note or something."
"Very good Sir."
Ranma scribbled a quick note and handed it to the waiter. The waiter then took it over to Akane's table.
"Excuse me Miss?" Akane looked up at the waiter.
"Yes?"
"Some man just left a message for you." The waiter looked at the note. "A Mr. Kenji Saotouyo," he read. He paused at the name and gave a sideward glance at Ranma. Ranma glared at the waiter and made motions with his hands indicating for him to go on. "He says that he's very sorry but something quite sudden came up and he's not going to be able to join you." The waiter then handed the note to Akane.
Akane's face fell a little as she looked at the note. "Oh, well thank you very much."
"Is there anything I can get you, Miss?"
"Oh, no thank you, I'll just be leaving."
"Don't you want to order now, Miss?"
"Oh, no," she blushed slightly. "Actually, I left my purse in my hotel room." She blushed deeper. "I wasn't exactly expecting to be stood up." Her lip quivered a little.
The waiter began to feel sorry for the girl. She looked as if she was about to cry. Plus it was late. By the time the girl got back to her hotel to get her purse all the restaurants would be near closing. He glanced over at Ranma. He also looked like he was feeling guilty. The waiter made his decision.
"Oh, how silly of me. Did I forget to mention it? The man also left us some money with instructions for you to order whatever you would like." Ranma fell over in his chair. Akane looked at the waiter a little suspiciously.
"Really? Oh I don't know, I couldn't."
The waiter cut her off. "Well it's none of my concern Miss, but he already paid so you might as well order something."
Akane sighed. "Well, I guess it would be okay." She thought for a moment and then decided. The waiter was relieved to see the woman's face brighten. "Okay then."
Ranma watched as Akane ordered. The waiter then made his way back over to his table.
"I'm sorry Sir, I know it's…"
"Yeah, yeah I know, 'it's none of your concern.'" He paused. "Thank you," he grumbled.
The waiter smiled to himself. "And what would you like to order Sir?"
"What did she have?"
"The lady ordered Yakisoba."
"Oh, okay, guess that's not too bad," he said looking at the menu and the price ranges. The waiter rolled his eyes. "I guess I'll have that too."
"Very good Sir." The waiter smiled as he walked away. He had always considered his job to be quite dull, but the events of the day had been quite amusing. The waiter would have been even more amused if he had seen Ranma at that moment as he spilled his glass of water on himself and then made a mad dash for the restroom.
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About an hour later Akane returned to her hotel room. She sighed and collapsed on the futon. "What's wrong with me anyway? Ranma must be right. I really am un-cute. I bet that Kenji took one look at me and decided to bolt. Oh but what do I care? It's not like it was a date or anything. I just was looking forward to the company I guess." She rolled over on her side and looked at the phone. "I really do miss him. But it hasn't even been a day. It'd look pretty pathetic if I called…" Even as she said the words she found herself reaching for the phone and dialing the number.
"Hello, Tendo Residence. Who's calling please?"
"Kasumi, hey. It's me, Akane."
"Oh, Akane! Thank goodness, we were all so worried about you. Where are you?"
"I'm fine Sis, don't worry. I should be home soon," she said avoiding the question about her whereabouts. "How's everyone doing?"
"Well, Nabiki's been trying to track you down all day. I don't know where she is right now. Father has been crying about his little girl disappearing and Mr. Saotome is hiding from his wife since she blames him for you running away."
Akane sighed. "Didn't you guys get my note? I said not to worry. I'm eighteen now, I can take care of myself. Besides, I'll be home soon. Like I said I just need some time to think."
"Yes Akane, but you don't usually act like this."
She sighed. "I don't really know how to act anymore."
"What do you mean Akane?"
"Oh nothing, Sis. Never mind. Um, what about Ranma? Where's he?"
"Oh, don't you know? He disappeared too."
"W-What?"
"Yes, we came home and there were two notes, one from you and one from Ranma. Father was kind of hoping that the two of you had eloped or something, but Nabiki was pretty sure you hadn't. After all, the notes did look like they were separate and they didn't say anything about each other."
"So then you have no idea where he went?"
"No, not a clue."
Akane felt herself sinking. "I- I can't believe he left me."
"Akane, but you did the same thing."
"Yeah but I just needed some time to think about things! I was going to come back!"
"Oh but Akane, Ranma just needed some time to think too. I'm sure he'll be back as well. The two of you have more in common than you may think, Akane."
"Sometimes I wonder," she whispered so that Kasumi could barely make out her words. "Well, Kasumi, I should get going, this is probably costing me a lot of money. I'll call back tomorrow night to see if you've heard from Ranma or anything. Please tell everyone not to worry. Goodbye."
"Akane! Wait, when are you going to be coming home? Akane? Akane?"
Akane hung up the phone as a tear fell down her cheek. "He left me. I can't believe he left me. I may never see him again." Another tear fell down her face followed by more. She angrily wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Akane stop it! You don't know that. It's just been one day, and you left yourself. He'll be back. And so will I. Right now I just need to concentrate on figuring out what to do when I return. By then he'll be home. I'm sure of it." Despite her words, she wasn't entirely convinced.
She flopped on her back again and stared at the ceiling as her tears began to fade away. "Why do I miss him so much?"
She looked back at the phone again wishing she could talk to Kenji, or at least someone. "Ah come on Akane, he stood you up. You can't be thinking of calling him now. You'll look like you're desperate or something." She paused for a moment still looking at the phone. "Then again, I should thank him for dinner and offer to pay him back. He shouldn't have had to pay for me if he wasn't even there." She picked up the phone and dialed the front desk.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"Hi, can you connect me to Kenji Saotouyo's room please?"
"Yes just a moment please."
Akane heard the phone click and then waited as it began to ring.
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After dinner Ranma decided to take a walk. "Man, I'm just full of surprises today. You think you know yourself and then… I mean first of all I leave town so I can think, then just when I start to feel like I miss Akane I meet this other girl and start to fall for her. Then this girl turns out to be Akane. What's that supposed to mean anyway? Does it mean that I'm really fickle or does it mean that Akane's just the one that's right for me? I mean after all, it was Akane that I was falling for…" Something wet hit his face. "Huh? What the... Am I crying?"
As if in response the sky flashed and roared and the single raindrop that had hit his face was immediately followed by more as it began to rain. Ranma, now female, growled in annoyance. "Ah man! I thought Nerima was the only place that had unpredictable weather! Or do you just like to follow me, huh?" she asked the clouds. When she received no answer she ran for the hotel to get out of the storm. She entered her room and grabbed a pair of dry clothes. "Well, I guess I might as well hit the hot spring again." She was about to do that when the phone rang. She paused with her hand on the door contemplating whether or not she should answer it. The phone rang again and she sighed. Her curiosity of who would be calling won out and she picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was trying to reach Kenji Saotouyo. I must have the wrong room or something."
"No, this is the right room."
"Oh," the girl on the other end sounded surprised. "Well, never mind, I don't want to be interrupting anything."
"Oh, don't worry, you're not."
"Oh, well, this is Ayame Higarashi. You must be Kenji's fiancée?"
"Shoot! It's Akane," Ranma thought. "What's she calling for?"
"His fiancée? No um, I'm his uh twin sister! Yeah, that's it," Ranma responded.
"Oh. Kenji didn't mention that he had his sister with him."
"Yeah, well he wasn't really expecting me. I just sort of showed up."
"At least that's not really a lie," Ranma thought.
"Oh, and that would explain why he couldn't make it to dinner then."
Ranma's eyes lit up. "Um, yeah! That would explain it wouldn't it?" she began laughing.
"I guess so. Well, anyway, is Kenji there? I wanted to thank him for buying me dinner."
"Uh," Ranma looked around the room for some hot water but unfortunately there wasn't any available in the room. "No, he's not here right now. He's on his way to the hot spring. He got caught out in the rain and wanted to warm up."
"Also not a lie," Ranma thought. "I'm getting good at this."
"Oh, okay. Well, then, just tell him thank you for me."
"Alright, I'll be sure to do that."
"Oh, and also I just wanted to tell him that even though we only met once, I really felt as if we'd known each other for years. I've never really connected with someone like that. It was really nice to have met him."
Ranma-chan smiled. She had felt the same way until she had found out that Ayame was actually Akane. She wished that her first meeting with Akane had been like that. Suddenly she remembered their conversation in the hot spring earlier where they had both said that they wished they could meet their fiancée's over again. And now in some strange twist of fate they had been given that chance.
"Uh, why don't you tell him yourself?"
"Oh, I don't know."
Ranma-chan sighed realizing Akane was most likely upset about being stood up. "Please? I mean, I know Kenji would really like the opportunity to apologize to you. He was really sorry about canceling on you like that. He's not the type of guy to do something like that without a good reason."
"Yes, well, I guess it doesn't really matter now. I have a few things I want to do tomorrow and then I think I'm going to go home soon."
"But Kenji would be really disappointed that he missed talking to you again. Please? I understand you're upset about tonight, but give him another chance, okay?"
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments and Ranma-chan began to worry she was going to say no. "I- I don't know. I'll think about it."
Ranma-chan breathed a sigh of relief. At least a she hadn't said no. "Well, if you decide you want to talk to him, he'll be down in the hot spring again."
"Alright. Thank you. Goodbye now."
"Bye!" Ranma-chan listened as the phone clicked on the other end. She then rushed down to the hot spring hoping she'd get there before Akane.
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About forty-five minutes later Ranma sat in the hot spring still waiting for Akane. He sighed. "I guess she decided not to come," he said to himself. Feeling disappointed and a little hurt he stood up and made his way out of the water. Just then he heard a timid voice calling him.
"K-Kenji? Are you there?"
He turned around and rushed back to the partition. The light from the lanterns around the hot spring shown through the thin paper partition so that he could just make out her silhouette. He gulped at the sight of her figure and wondered how he had ever been able to call her un-cute. "Y-yeah. Ayame? Is that you?"
"Uh huh. I called and your sister told me you were down here. I sort of wanted to thank you for dinner."
"Dinner, right! Ayame, about that, I am so sorry…"
"It's okay really, your sister explained the whole thing to me."
"Oh, she did?"
"Uh huh." She paused. "Well, to tell you the truth, that wasn't the only reason I called. I sort of wanted to talk to you again. I just heard something that kind of bothers me."
"What happened?" he asked trying to figure out what possibly could've happened in such a short time to get her upset.
"H-He left me."
"What?"
"My fiancée, Ranma. I called home and he's gone."
Ranma was confused. He knew he had left a note. How could she get that impression? "What? He didn't leave a note?"
"Yes."
"Well, what did it say?"
"That he wanted to get away for a while."
"So? Then he's going to return, right?"
"I don't think so."
"What? Why not? Of course he will."
"What if he doesn't?"
Ranma sighed. When he wrote the note he had been afraid that Akane wouldn't quite understand, but he didn't think she'd react like she was. "Did he say he would come back?"
"Y-yes."
"Then he'll be back! What are you so worried about?"
"I just can't believe that he left me."
"But Ayame, you did the exact same thing, remember?"
"Yeah, but it's a little different."
"How?"
She didn't respond for a second. "I guess it's not, is it?"
"No! Of course not."
She sighed. "You're right. It's just that, I don't know. I guess I expected things to turn out differently. I know it's silly, but I guess a part of me was hoping that Ranma would find my note and run off to try and find me like he usually does. But he's not going to do that because he's not even there to miss me. He doesn't even know I'm gone."
Ranma thought for a moment. She was right, that's exactly what he would've done. And he realized that a part of him had actually hoped she would come after him as well. He suddenly realized that he was upset that she had left as well. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, Ayame, I bet he misses you anyway, wherever he is."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Still, he was suddenly a little bothered himself. "Hey Ayame? Did you buy a one way ticket or a round trip ticket?"
"Round trip."
Ranma felt a little relieved. "So you were going to go back no matter what?"
"Yes. I don't want to run away from my problems. I just needed a break. What about you?"
He didn't answer immediately. He hadn't thought about it when he bought the ticket, but now he realized the significance of his decision. He hadn't been certain that he would ever return. The thought made him sick. "One way."
"Why?"
"I- I don't know. I've always tried to not run away from things like my father, and yet that's exactly what I was doing, wasn't it?"
"Don't be so hard on yourself. It doesn't necessarily mean you're running away. Are you going to return?"
"Yes." He was surprised about the certainty he had answered the question with. "Definitely."
"Then why does it matter that you thought you might not return?"
"Because. You didn't even doubt it for a moment, and yet I did."
"It doesn't matter. I don't care if Ranma bought a round trip ticket or not, just as long as he comes back to me."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. That's all that really matters, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"But come on, let's talk about something less serious now, alright?"
"Okay. There is something I was wondering actually. Why of all places did you choose to come to Kyoto? Does it have some significance to you and your fiancée or something?" He knew that wasn't it, unless he had been extremely dense and missed something in their past completely.
"No," she said in a voice lacking any emotion. "I came here because this is where my mother died."
"Shoot!" Ranma thought. "Why of all things did I have to ask her THAT?"
"Ayame, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"No, that's okay. It was a long time ago. You know what they say, time heals all wounds. Although sometimes it doesn't feel like it. Especially now, being here in this town."
"I'm sorry, really. You don't have to talk about it."
"Thanks, I'd rather not. But um, yeah. Why did you come to Kyoto?"
Ranma realized he didn't really have an answer. "I don't know really. Just seemed right for some reason. I just trusted my instincts, and it's a good thing, because if I hadn't, I never would have met you."
Akane laughed. "Oh please, I'm just a bother to you. You can't enjoy my company that much. All you do is listen to me whine."
"That's not true! I feel like I can really relate to you. You've helped me too, you know."
"Kenji, I really am glad we met."
"Me too."
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End of Chapter 3
Okay that's it. Hope you all liked it. Coming soon is chapter 4. Thank you to everyone for giving me such kind reviews. It really pleases me to know that you all are enjoying my story so much. I just wanted to say that this is definitely going to be completed soon. I'm not going to give up on this story half way in or anything. I've basically written the whole thing already which is the only reason I'm updating so quickly. I'm going to try really hard to get the next chapters up every other day, but I don't know if I'll be successful since I need to make some changes in the upcoming chapters. Anyway, please be patient, I promise to be as fast as possible. And Midnyghtbebop, please don't go dying on me, or anyone else for that matter. Alright, that's all for now. Ja ne!