A/N: If you don't know how the Ranma 1/2 manga ends, I'm sorry but this might be a bit of a spoiler for you. I do make reference to certain things that occurred in the final chapter of the manga. Sorry if this bothers you, but at least now you've been warned. Anyway, without any further ado, on to the chapter. Oh, and in case you get confused, things in italics are flashbacks. That's all. Enjoy!

* * * *

It had been a wonderful vacation. The Tendos had visited their relatives and seen all kinds of sights in the city. The trip had seemed to do Akane's mother some good as well. For the first time in almost a year, the color was returning to her mother's cheeks. Akane was too young to really understand things. She never really knew what might happen to her mother. She was only six years old. She didn't even know what death was. All she knew was that her mother was very sick. But Akane had thought that she was starting to get better.

Akane laughed gleefully as she splashed her older sister Nabiki with the water from the hot spring. She giggled as her sister chased after her. Suddenly Kasumi rushed in, her normally calm face stricken with concern.

"Akane, Nabiki, come quick. It's... it's Mother…"

The two girls in the hot spring stopped in the middle of their game and stared at their older sister, shock and worry evident on their faces.

* * * *

Akane bolted upright in her bed with a muffled shout. After a moment, she sighed. "Just a dream." She took a moment to calm herself and turned to look out her window where sunlight was streaming in. "Mmm, it looks like a beautiful day," she said getting up and making her way over to the window. She stared outside trying to forget about her dream as she had done so many times in the past, but it kept playing itself over and over in her mind. Akane found it strange that she could remember every little detail of that week up until that very moment. Everything that followed, her mother's death, the funeral, it was all a blur, forever erased from her memory. The next memory she had was of a conversation she had with her sister Kasumi a few days after the funeral.

"But I don't understand! She was getting better! She looked better." A young Akane cried to her oldest sister.

"Akane," Kasumi had said. "We didn't go to Kyoto for Mom to get better. We went so that she could say goodbye to her family. She didn't have much time left."

Akane shook herself out of her thoughts. "No use sitting around in my room all day thinking about that." She moved around the room collecting some things and getting dressed. After she was finished she fastened her white hat on her head, grabbed her purse and made her way out of the room.

* * * *

Ranma hadn't slept much that night. After he had finished talking to 'Ayame' he had waited by the exit of the hot spring for her to leave and quietly followed her to find out where her room was. He was surprised to find her room was only a few doors down from his. Then he went to bed himself and instead of going to sleep just lay awake thinking of his conversation with 'Ayame' that night, one part in particular.

"Do you really hate being in an arranged marriage that much, Ayame?"

"Yes."

"Why? I mean if you decide you want to get married to this guy, then there's really no problem right?"

"I wouldn't say that. For one thing there's still the matter of all his other fiancée's. How are we supposed to even get married with them around all the time?"

"What do you think would happen if you did get married?"

"Well, provided that was actually possible, I don't really know. They'd probably hang around for a while to make sure we didn't break up or something, but eventually they'd have to give up I suppose. Or kill me. And I wouldn't put that past them. Still, as I said, there's no way to get rid of them long enough to get married anyway."

"Alright, I guess that makes sense, but that really has nothing to do with your engagement being arranged. I mean you'd have those problems whether your parents had arranged the marriage or not."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"So then why's it so bad?"

"Well, it's just that… Oh never mind. It's stupid."

"No, what?"

Akane sighed. "Well, it's just that it's so unromantic! All my life I've kind of been looking forward to meeting the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. It takes away all the romance since I didn't even get to choose him. And well, like I said, it's silly, but he's never going to propose to me."

"What? Why would he? That makes no sense. You two are already engaged!"

"I know! That's why I said it's silly. I guess it just must be a girl thing or something, but all my life I've always looked forward to someone proposing to me. You see, my mom used to tell me about how my father proposed to her. Every time she told the story you could see her eyes light up at the memory. So I always sort of wanted that I guess." Akane sighed. "It's stupid, I know. But I mean, don't you ever wish you could've proposed to your fiancée yourself instead of having your parents just arrange everything?"

Ranma hadn't ever really thought about it. He always figured that was one of the only benefits to having an arranged marriage, that he didn't ever have to worry about the girl he liked turning him down. He realized that his real problem was simply that he was afraid of being rejected. Having an arranged marriage had seemed safer to him. Yet, at the same time it had made it even harder for him to be honest about how he felt about Akane.

"I- I suppose you're right. I just never really thought about it that way. But I mean hey, you never know, you may get your wish someday, right?" Ranma said, smiling.

Akane scoffed. "Yeah right, that idiot can't even admit that he likes me."

Ranma checked himself from shouting some kind of insult back at her. He knew he couldn't because she still didn't know it was him. "You know, you may not know your fiancée as well as you think."

"I suppose."

Ranma took a deep breath and finally asked the question he'd been afraid to ask. "Ayame, do you love him?"

She didn't answer for a moment and Ranma began to get extremely worried. "I'd say that I definitely feel something for him," she finally answered. "There have been plenty of times where I thought it was love, and for the most part, I'm pretty sure it is, but I'm still not entirely certain. And even if I do, what's it worth? There are too many obstacles in our way after all. Maybe if there weren't I could be sure."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

Back in his room, Ranma sighed. It hadn't exactly been the answer he was hoping for, but it was better than a 'no.' He stared at his ceiling for a while thinking of the events surrounding their second failed wedding and the things that had happened in Kyoto. "Ah man! I wish I knew how all of this would end."

He had been up all night thinking, and he had finally figured out how he felt about Akane. "I do love her," he whispered to himself. He had almost been sure of it before talking to 'Ayame', but then after he had talked to her, he had started doubting his feelings for Akane because he was feeling a strange attachment to 'Ayame.' When he found out 'Ayame' was actually Akane he had been even more confused. He didn't know if that meant he had fallen for two different girls or he had just fallen for the same one twice. So he started to ask himself what it was he liked about 'Ayame.' He liked the fact that she was a sweet and compassionate person, as well as incredibly witty and fun to talk to. Of course at first glance those appeared to be things that Akane definitely was not. The Akane he knew was quick to anger, and incredibly temperamental. However, she never put herself above others, never held a grudge for a very long time, and was actually very sweet prior to getting upset with someone. So on the surface, Akane and 'Ayame' appeared to be entirely different people. But at heart, Ranma knew they were exactly alike. 'Ayame' and Ranma had simply gotten off to a better start than Akane and Ranma had.

After thinking it over, Ranma realized that if the girl hadn't been Akane he wouldn't have started to fall in love with her. It only confirmed his feelings for Akane. Now that he had been given the chance to meet her all over again, all his doubts about if his feelings for Akane had been due to the constant pushing of their parents were washed away. He had fallen in love with her all over again without any interference from other people. And now he was sure of it. He loved her. But unfortunately, that realization didn't make him feel much more at ease. In truth, he had always known he was in love with her. Yet he had denied it, partially because it was safer, and at the time, there was nothing he could have done about it. There were still too many issues to resolve.

Looking out towards the window he noticed the sunlight drifting in. "Guess I'm not going to get any more sleep today." After getting up and getting dressed he started to leave his room. He opened his door and immediately slammed it shut. "Yikes! That was close." He opened the door a crack and peeked out watching as Akane made her way to the end of the hall and around the corner. "Phew," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. Then he was overwhelmed with curiosity. "I wonder where she's going. She kept talking about how she had to do some things. What could she have meant anyway?" He found himself unconsciously making his way down that hall in the direction Akane had gone. At the end of the hall he saw her making her way down the stairs, and waiting until she had disappeared from sight again he went after her. She exited the hotel with him close behind, but at enough of a distance to where he wasn't noticed.

"Where are you going, Akane?" he wondered to himself. Intent on finding out, he followed her as she walked through the streets of Kyoto, weaving in and out of the traffic of people, set on not losing sight of her.

* * * *

"It's been a long time," Akane thought to herself. "Too long." Somehow Akane knew every turn she needed to take without hesitation. It seemed to her only a matter of minutes before she arrived at her destination. Entering the park she made her way towards an old cherry blossom tree.

With a smile she stepped up to it and began to trace the initials engraved in the wood. "S.T. and A.H. Forever." Her smile grew slightly sad and she began to speak to her mother as if she were standing right beside her. "I've only been here once when we all went on a picnic together, but I've heard about it so many times. I remember how you told us about the time Dad carved this in the tree. And how he proposed to you here a few months later." She sighed. "So many memories are here in this place. I can almost feel them." She grew silent for a moment before continuing.

"Dad misses you a lot you know. We all do. I-I miss you so much." She bit her lip and reached into her pocket, pulling out an old piece of paper that looked as if it had been opened and refolded a thousand times.

It read, "To my beautiful Akane. It is my final wish and prayer that you live a long and happy life. And when you depart from this world, may you do so with no regrets, having lived your life to its fullest, as I have. For I have lived well, and loved well, and truly I could not ask for more."

Akane had read those words many times, on a piece of paper that she kept hidden at the bottom of her desk drawer, but they had never held so much meaning as they did at that moment. The tears flowed freely down her cheeks, yet she smiled.

"Well Mom, I'm all grown up now. I graduated high school and turned eighteen. I try to always be happy, but I still miss you a lot. But I still have Dad, and Nabiki, and Kasumi and…" she trailed off and smiled again. "I wonder what you would have thought of Ranma, Mom. He's…" She tried to think of words to describe him. "Well, he really does care, in his own sort of way. And he can be sweet at times, though sometimes he makes me so mad that I want to wring his neck. Oh! Ah, sorry Mother. I meant no disrespect. I know I shouldn't speak so lightly of death considering… well…" She cleared her throat and continued. "Ahem. Anyway, Ranma's… special in his own unique way. I honestly can't imagine myself with anyone else. Yet most of the time I can't even picture myself with him at all. I hope that doesn't mean I'm destined to live my life alone. I'd hate to betray your last wish."

She stopped and listened to the sounds of the birds chirping and the wind whistling through the trees for a moment. "Do you really have no regrets Mom? I mean, don't you wish you could've lived longer? Your life was just so short. You said you had no regrets, but so far I worry that if tomorrow was my last day I couldn't say I had lived my life. I guess when you almost die yourself you start to entertain thoughts like that." She thought of the day in Jusendo when she had almost died and a frown adorned her face as she immediately felt a chill creep over her. "I remember that feeling when I was unconscious, and there was this light, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the urge to be with you again. But I could still hear his voice, and his cries and I was torn as to which way to turn. Then I remembered your words. That I should live my life to the fullest, with no regrets, and I felt I couldn't face you again as I was. That you would be disappointed in me. I didn't even stop to consider that I would be disappointing myself. Until I heard him say it. At least I thought I heard him say it, of course he denied it later. He said he loved me, and it was then that I realized I still had something to live for."

She shivered again. The thought of that day served as a constant reminder to her of how life was short and she had to live her life while she still could. Yet she still hadn't acted upon those feelings. It had been two years, and she was still in the same place she had started. Nothing had changed. Except now, finally she was certain of one thing.

"I do love him. I've been denying it for so long, that it's difficult for me to admit it now, but I do. I have for some time now. I've pretended I didn't so that I wouldn't have to deal with the other things. Like Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi, Kuno… And then the thing that frightens me most of all, the thought that maybe he doesn't feel the same. But he has to, right? I mean, he told me so much in Jusendo. I know he said it, or at least thought it. Whatever it was he did, I heard him. And sometimes I can see it in his eyes. In the way he protects me, the way he gets jealous over me, the way he'll do anything to comfort me when I cry, even in the way he gets angry at me." She smiled. "But yet, what if it's just because of our fathers that we're together at all? What if their constant pushing is responsible for fabricating our feelings for each other? Can an arranged marriage like this really be successful? I just don't see how.

"I've always wanted to have a happy marriage like you and Dad had. Not an awkward relationship that was forced upon us. Even if we are in love, and we do get married, how much time will we waste in our own awkwardness and stubbornness, refusing to accept each other and be happy? And how would we get married in the first place with all of our rivals always getting in the way. It just all seems so impossible. I wish I could be like you, Mom. You were so strong. You'd never let anything get in your way like this. I'm strong too, but I'm nothing compared to you, and sometimes I wish I could trade all my martial arts skills for the strength to tell Ranma how I really feel."

She looked back down at the paper in her hand and smiled. "But I'm going to try harder Mom. Somehow I'll figure it out. Just watch and see." She felt the cold wind brush her face, as if in response and she slowly turned to go. As she did, she felt for a moment that someone was watching her, but then the feeling disappeared. She looked around her and scanned her surroundings just to be sure, but she saw no one. She laughed at her own jumpiness and glanced at her watch as she slowly left the park, looking back at the tree one last time. "I'd better get going. Still have one more place to go…"

* * * *

Ranma had followed Akane all the way to the small park she was visiting. When she had stopped in front of a cherry blossom tree, he had hid behind another tree nearby to watch. "What's she doing?" he wondered. He had been surprised to say the least when she started talking to the tree. Yet as she continued he began to understand. She was talking to her mother. Suddenly he felt rather silly, as if he were intruding on something important, which in fact was exactly what he was he doing.

Ranma hadn't thought about it very much, but he suddenly realized what Akane must have felt like having lost her mother at such a young age. For a long time he had been without his mother as well, and Akane had always been there to comfort him when he was bothered by it. Yet he had never done the same for her. Never helped her to deal with the loss of her mother. Even though he realized he hadn't been around when it happened, he knew that Akane still must have been hurt by it. Ranma had his mother back now, but he knew Akane never would. He remembered how much he wanted to be with his mother, and realized how much it would hurt him if he were to lose her again.

Ranma wished he could comfort her in some way, but he didn't know how, and he wasn't even free to approach her at the moment. Instead he merely watched Akane. Somehow she didn't seem so sad. It was more like she was talking to an old friend whom she hadn't seen in years. There were traces of sadness in her eyes every now and then, and he could see tears glistening on her face, but somehow he knew that they weren't shed for her mother but for something else.

He waited and watched her as she stood there for quite some time, no desire in him wanting to move. There was something peaceful and surreal about the scene before him. He felt as if he could finally understand a bit more about Akane by watching her that morning. After a long time she turned to leave. She looked around for a moment as if she had sensed his presence and he made his aura fade so that he would disappear from her senses. Giving up on locating him, she stopped for a moment longer to look at the tree and then left the park.

Ranma no longer had the desire to follow her. There was something else he wanted to do instead. After he was satisfied that Akane was gone, he emerged from his hiding place and made his way over to the tree. The first thing he noticed were the initials carved on the tree. He smiled, tracing them as he had seen Akane do.

He looked from side to side self consciously and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Um, hi there. I'm Ranma Saotome. I'm, uh Akane's fiancée I guess." He felt kind of stupid. It was one thing to talk to someone's grave, but a tree? And standing there he began to realize he didn't really know what he was going to say anyway. So he just started talking, letting his thoughts tumble out of his mouth unchecked. "We've never met or anything, but I live with the Tendos. Sometimes it feels like there's someone else there that's not accounted for. I can only assume that it's you, watching over them all. And then I can see your presence and your influence in so many things. All three of your daughters, they were all effected by you in a different way. Kasumi's the sweetest girl anyone could ever hope to meet, and she does an excellent job taking care of everyone and the house. And she's a wonderful cook too! Nabiki's strong in her own sort of way. And she's absolutely brilliant, though she's kind of hard to get along with or trust. Still, she's likeable in her own sort of way. And then there's Akane." He smiled. "Kasumi often comments just how much she's like you. If that's true, you must have been a remarkable woman.

"I know that me and Akane are only engaged because our fathers forced us into it, but still, I want to do everything in my power to make her happy. I don't know if I'm worthy of having her love. Actually I can't really imagine anyone who is, but I hope you would have approved of me. Coming here to Kyoto and really being able to get to know her, even if it was under false pretenses, simply serves to confirm just how much I care for her. That I really do love her." He smiled realizing that was the first time he'd admitted it out loud with such confidence. "Anyway, I promise that from this day on I'll do everything I can to make her happy, as she deserves. And I hope that you will accept me as a fitting husband for her, that is if she accepts me at all. And also, I'm very grateful to you, and always will be, for bringing Akane into this world. I can't imagine my life without her, and I don't even like to try to picture it."

He came to a halt and shuffled his feet nervously, not knowing what else to say. "Anyway, um, it was nice talking to you I guess. So, um goodbye."

Ranma turned to leave, still not completely sure what to do next. After walking a little ways he stopped and turned back towards the tree as an idea occurred to him. After a second he smiled a little and made up his mind.

* * * *

End of Chapter 4

Author Notes:

General - This chapter is the main reason why I haven't posted the whole story earlier. Originally I had it written so that Akane went to see her mother's grave while in Kyoto. Unfortunately after I had written the story I saw the episode where the Tendos and Ranma and his father go and visit Akane's mother's grave. This kind of ruined some of my ideas and I had to change a lot of my story because of it. It took me a while to think of an alternate scenario because I didn't want to cut a lot of the dialog I had already written. I thought of leaving the scene as it was, but I didn't think I could do that because one of my main goals with my stories is to remain true to the original Ranma 1/2 plot. So I was depressed and left the story alone and unposted for a really long time. Eventually I came up with the idea for the cherry blossom tree. I kind of like it better this way anyway. I'm assuming in this story that Akane's mother, Ayame Higarashi, grew up in Kyoto and met Soun there.

Chapters - Hey guess what? It's looking like just two more chapters after this one! After changing my scenario from the grave scene to the cherry blossom tree scene I got a really good idea for my ending. I had already written it but now I think I might change it a little bit. So chapter 5 will probably be out within my usual two days, but chapter 6 might be a little later. Sorry!

Reviews - *Gulp* Apparently I'm getting death threats now. Good thing I've already written the story or I might not survive to finish it. I'm just glad no one's threatened me about finishing Love Vanished Once, Regrettably considering that story is taking me forever to finish. Plus I took a break from it to work on this! But yeah, please don't kill me! Then you'll never get to know how this story ends! And thank you to everyone that has actually taken the time to read Missing You. I absolutely love hearing your reviews and am very flattered by all of your compliments. I'm very happy that my story has been so well received. Keep reviewing and I'll keep getting my chapters out as fast as possible. Anyway, that's all for now. Ja ne!