Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma

Untitled

The meeting was in session. All of the people who loved Akane most were there, as they were every month. At the beginning it was hard for everyone to get together monthly, but it was routine now. Ranma had taken lead of the meetings and all the participants had gotten used to his style of leadership. It was hard for some of them to warm up to the search parties, but all were used to it now. Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne patrolled China. Ukyo mainly searched Osaka, Kyoto, and other towns where she could also get some business done, Nabiki checked into any mysterious princes, curses, or any other unusual happenings that her sister could have gotten caught up in. Ranma and Ryoga traveled, sometimes they were together but that was only if Ranma felt like having Ryoga around. Ryoga had gotten better about getting to Nerima, he wasn't perfect, but he would usually run into someone before each meeting. There were some random helpers. Tofu would ask all his patients if they had seen Akane and while Kasumi was shopping she'd ask the merchants if they had seen her. Genma and Soun attended the meetings, but they didn't do any searching. Soun took the notes from each meeting and Genma basically watched and gave them "ideas" on where she might be, all utterly hopeless. And so it goes…

"Ok, Nabiki do you have anything?"

"I've talked to some of my sources and they said that there's this price in Thailand who's been searching for a wife for a while now, but he's not kidnapping. He wants the girls to come to him, and he just started looking about six months ago." Ranma shook his head.

"Shampoo?" She looked towards Mousse

"Shampoo have nothing, but Mousse say he saw girl that look like Akane a while back." Ranma turned toward Mousse.

"Was it her? Do you know where she went?" Mousse shook his head.

"I only saw her for a few seconds. I was on higher ground and the girl was pretty far away, by the time I got down to her she was gone. You know my eyesight Ranma, it probably wasn't her, especially if Shampoo and Cologne didn't see anything." Ranma nodded.

"I…I suppose so. Ukyo, you have anything?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing Ran-chan. I was all over the place this month to. I put a picture of her on my cart and started asking people if they've seen anyone who looks anything like her. If they don't answer, they don't eat." Ranma rolled his eyes. He knew that Ukyo was trying to lighten the mood, but he was sick of this whole situation.

"Ryoga, please tell me you have something more promising." Ryoga shook his head.

"I walked up and down the coast and didn't find anything." Ranma looked around the room.

"Any one have anything else to add?" They all shook their heads. Ranma noticed some tension in the room.

"What?" Kasumi decided to answer his question because she was the least likely to get yelled at.

"Ranma, we've all been thinking. It's been two years and we haven't found anything. We all want her back, but this doesn't seem to be helping any. Maybe if we stop looking for a while she'll turn up. A watched pot never boils you know." Everyone around the table was looking at Ranma and he was looking at the floor.

It had been almost 5 minutes before anyone said anything. They were all waiting for Ranma's answer. Finally Nabiki cracked.

"Ranma…"

"If you want to stop looking for her then stop, but I wont. I can't." Ranma stood up and walked out. The group just looked at each other. They knew that this was the right thing to do. They all wanted Akane back too, that's why they've searched for this long, but they were all tired and discouraged. Ranma was a different case. The group members started talking to each other, assuring one another that what they had done was the right thing.

Without the rest of the group Ranma knew that his work would be that much harder but at least he wouldn't have to double back to Nerima every month. He was walking on the fence as he always did. He avoided looking down towards the ground. He realized that in these two years he had grown accustomed to putting on a brave face for everyone else, but when he was alone…

Ranma jumped off the fence and turned left, it was the quickest way out of town. As he was walking out he noticed two people walking in. One was a man about Ranma's height with black hair. The person he was with was about a head shorter and was wearing a hood and cape. Ranma could only assume that the other person was a woman because the two had their arms linked. He was about to look away when a gust of wind blew the hood off the girl. It was her. Ranma was happy for all of two seconds. Then the man pulled her closer to him, Ranma saw red a charged.

"Are you worried Akane?" She had tried her best to mask her nervousness but, now that her hod has blown off she couldn't hide it. Her companion pulled her close.

"It's ok if you are. I'm a little scared too." Akane was going to answer but a red blur passed by, taking her friend with it.

Ranma slammed the guy against the wall. It seemed that Ranma had surprised the guy. Ranma held the guy to the wall with his left hand and pulled back his right, this guy was about to get the beating of his life. Ranma started to close the distance between his fist and this guys face when he heard it.

"Ranma don't!" Then Akane ran towards them. She met Ranma's eyes for a millisecond when she turned toward her friend. She pulled Ranma's left arm away from his neck.

"Are you ok?" The guy rubbed his neck and nodded. Akane turned on Ranma, anger in her eyes.

"What were you thinking!?" Ranma had waited two years to talk to her, two years to see her, two years to look her in the eyes. It didn't matter that she was angry. Ranma pulled her into a hug.

"Akane…" the way he said it made Akane feel even worse about leaving. She hugged him back. Just as she was about to say "oh, Ranma" he pulled himself away from her and said,

"Where the hell have you been!?"

AN: End of Chapter 2 of this still untitled piece. The meeting didn't work out quite how I wanted it, but I think it's pretty good. Next chapter I reveal the identity of Akane's male companion and where she went and a little more expansion on why. I might even put in a scene with just Ranma and Akane, but I might have to hold it off until Chapter 4. Reviews are welcome and please be gentle, it was very late when I wrote this and I had already taken my medication (being sick isn't fun). Well, I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to your reviews.