Chapter 1

It seemed to be a pretty quiet day, I was lounging about reading several new manga and Nabiki was watching something on the tv while pops and Mr. Tendo played another game, no fiancees trying to snag, drug, or blackmail me and no rivals trying to beat, fight, maim, or otherwise make my life a living hell. Little did I know that this seemingly calm day would turn out to be something that would change my life.

"Ranma, Nabiki, have you seen Akane?" Kasumi asked as she stepped into the living room, she wasn't smiling, and that almost worried me as much as the obvious worry I saw on her face.

"No." Nabiki said as she turned away from the tv to look at Kasumi. Nabiki's reacion strikes me as somewhat odd, especially considering her reputation as the Ice Queen, she looked genuinely concerned and almost worried. "What's wrong Kasumi?"

"I have a terrible feeling…" Kasumi said, trailing off.

I don't know where Akane is, she might have said something to me. I find myself thinking back to this morning and trying to remember if she said anything… there is a brief spark of memory as I recall that she did indeed mention going somewhere, the bank.

"She went to deposit the money she made working this summer." I said to Kasumi, hoping that would cheer her up, but the expression never changed.

"But that was two hours ago." Kasumi said in a tone of voice that makes me worry just remembering it.

I find myself hopping from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of the bank. I have this horrible twisting feeling in my bowels, like something terrible is about to happen or that I'll see something I really don't want to when I get there. Despite the feelings I pushed myself on, I wish I had listened, maybe I wouldn't feel so horrible now… but then again if I did I'd probably have felt worse when I finally did hear about everything.

As I landed on the building across from the bank I hear the double report of rifles being fired, one of which was so close that my head snaps around finding a figure in the prone lowering what is obviously a sniper's rifle with that scope on it. The amazing thing is that I didn't notice him at all, I don't mean to brag, but I'm a good martial artist. That this guy was able to slip under my awareness speaks volumes of his training, the only reason he hasn't noticed me here is that I froze when I heard the shot and he was concentrating on it. In fact right about now…

The man gasped and jumped as he saw me standing there, "How'd you get up here?"

"I jumped." I reply, I'm not exactly sure how to handle this. He's in the military, the US Army to be exact, and his nametag says something I couldn't pronounce correctly if my life depended on it. How does one normally go about getting out of literally jumping into the middle of a military operation?

The man seemed to sigh and relax a bit then he laughed. "Sure! You just jumped here from one of the other buildings!" He makes a gesture to the neighboring buildings. "That's over a hundred feet to the nearest one, try again."

"I don't have time for this." I say as I rush past him, I don't know what surprised him more, the speed I moved at or that I jumped off the roof running at that speed. I can feel a set of eyes focusing on me as I fly through the air towards the bank but they don't have enough time to really do me any harm as I crash through the doors the instant after my feet touch the ground.

That's when I saw Akane. She was cradling someone and as I got closer I could tell she was crying. It was Ryoga, I thought that he'd have been near invincible with that stupid Bakusai Tenketsu of his…

She looks up at me and redoubles her crying. "He… he s-saved meeee!" She wailed as she wrung his distinctive black and yellow bandanna between her hands.

That's when it really hit me. He wasn't just killed, he sacrificed himself for Akane, he traded his life for hers and I was always so mean to him. I never thought that he loved her, but this wasn't the sort of thing you did for a crush. Now he'd never fight with me again, he'd never be angry at me for something he thought I did again, and I had been so mean to him all that time. I'll never be able to be his friend, I see now that's all he really needed, it's all I wanted… if only I hadn't kept goading and making fun of him.

"Akane.." I try to speak, the words I want to say, the feelings that I can't, all jumbling together in my throat and making me choke. I finally manage a whisper, "I want to cry."

Akane sniffs "Its okay to cry."

'Yeah, for something like this, it's ok.' I think to myself.

The tears now come streaming down my face and I can't breathe right…

(Continued)

"Tomorrow sees undone what happens not today, indecision brings delay, days lost, lamenting lost days."

- Ryoga Hibiki

Author's Notes: Well, here it is, starting out the story with more personal feelings… I suppose that's good for writing in the first person. Anyway I think I have a lot of work to make my first person as good as my third. Any suggestions, comments, and/or advice would be enthusiastically accepted.