HE LIVES! HE LIVES! YAAAAY! Of course, I could have made him die, but that's not how I wanted this story to end. So yes, Ranma lives on, but Genma is miiiiiighty pissed. I think this is a record! I got 26 reviews for this chapter alone! Thank you all so much! Your responses are what keep me writing, and as long as they keep coming, I will keep writing. Peace out.

Review Responses:
Ryu Xander Himura: Yes, this means you'll get a lemon. Lol, thanks for being so patient with me. :-).
Lady Mokodane: Thank you for waiting! I'm glad my work makes you happy.
Dralan: Yeah, I guess it's true that Genma wouldn't really pull the plug on Ranma. However I DETEST Genma for the way he treats Ranma, so this was my way of making everyone else hate him as much as I do. Heehee, maybe I'm just a little twisted like that, but I have a little surprise in store for the bastard.
Moi: I'm incredibly flattered. Thank you. That means more to me then you'll ever know :-). Firegal777: bows back I'm glad you liked it!
Kitara-Kama: hands a tissue. I get the idea! Thank you!
Little Natsu: I don't think I could bring myself to kill Akane. At least not in this story. Heehee. Night Mare579: I'm glad you overcame your skeptics to give this story a chance. Thank you for telling me you like it.
Xero-ghost: I'm happy that you grew to like my story, but I'm wondering why it made you almost angry?
Lily Tsukino: MUAHAHAHA! Yes! I am mean! I am a bitch from hell. Actually I'm not that bad. I hope the last couple of chaps are worth the wait.
Biyabo: One of the few times in my life I will say I'm glad I made someone cry :-). I'm actually thinking of doing a sequel to I.T.W.Y., cause I had a lot of ideas that I just didn't have space to cram it all in this one. But that is a great idea! Thanks! I'll be sure to give you credit if you read it, deal?
Everyone Else I'm Too Lazy To Go Through: Mezzrack, KT, uy, lil2far, superpie16, Angel152169, Wired Akane, turkis, Liss, Kayemsi, dacrayZblaze1, The One above All, MercuryDestiny, Kalen Darkmoon, and Kat14.

You don't know what it means to me to hear that my stories are appreciated. Thank you and goodnight. Zzzzzzzzz. Wha? Oh right, the story.

"I just don't understand it", muttered Dr Sadako under his breath.
"What's there to understand?" Snapped Moriko. "The boy's alive." She smiled at Akane. "the boy's alive."
Akane didn't see the smile. Ranma hadn't looked her in the eye since he had opened them, as a spilt second later the door had come crashing down and in had spilled Genma's entourage. Now she was standing against the opposite wall, staring openly at him, willing him to look at her. "Look at me, Ranma", thought Akane, "say something to me...please...anything but this silence." Ranma looked at his lap. He still didn't say a word. Akane restrained herself. When she first saw Ranma open his eyes, her heart had soared, and she had felt such...there was no other word for it: pride. She understood that Ranma had overcome his own demons to come back to her, and she was proud. But now she wanted to know. Was it her who had driven him to do this? And why had he used heroine? Akane resisted the urge to grab his shoulders and shake him.

"Ranma."

Everyone in the room turned. Genma had stepped out of the shadows where he had been lurking for about ten minutes. He strode over to Ranma's bed, his arms crossed, looking at the floor. His face was grave. Genma had not aged well. The years of training and running from his wife and those he had cheated, drinking sake and beating Ranma to the last fish had finally come back to bite him in the ass. His age had begun to show on his face and in his martial arts; he was not as strong or as fast as he once had been. His dark, angry face held the trace of a pained grimace, as though he were in pyhsical pain, and Akane's sharp eyes saw his legs locking and buckling slightly with each step. "Arthritis" she thought. In spite of herself, in that moment, without quite knowing it, Akane pitied Genma Saotome.

But only for a second.

"How could you do this Ranma?! You stupid, stupid boy! You-you disgrace! You have single-handedly tainted the Saotome name forever! Was that what you wanted?! WAS IT??" Genma was almost apoplectic. He seemed to be boiling over with inexpressible fury. The two doctors were cowering near the wall, looking like they felt they should interfere, but unwilling to risk life and limb. Ranma, with every word his father yelled, sank lower and lower into his bed, as though he were trying to be swallowed up by the earth. His long hair hid his eyes, and Akane wondered briefly if he was crying. Genma leaned in toward his son, until they were less than six inches apart. He spoke in a soft and dangerous voice, that everyone in the room heard:

"As far as I am concerned, boy, you-are-not-my-son." Then he raised his voice to a bellow, as though he were trying out different ways to make his son feel his worst. "THANK THE GODS YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD! THE SHAME WOULD HAVE KILLED HER!!!"

"SHUT UP!!!!!"

Genma stopped yelling and stared at Ranma, as though about to demand how he dare speak to his father that way. But Ranma remained motionless. The voice had not come from him. Everyone turned to face the far wall. Akane stood, her red aura pulsing around her, drumming like a heartbeat. Everyone backed away. Her hand balled into fists, her eyes hidden in the shadows of her hair, she began to step slowly toward Genma. Akane raised her head so she could look Genma straight in his bloodshot eyes. He gulped. In Akane's eyes, flame licked at her pupils. Her red aura radiated intense heat directed at Genma, and the intensity of her anger nearly knocked him off his feet. Akane stopped just a foot short of Genma. He sweated.

"Don't you EVER speak to Ranma that way again. Do you hear me? EVER!"
Akane spoke softly, but her voice quavered with anger. As she continued, her voice grow in volume with each word.
"How you could DARE to say those things to him, I can't think! When it's just as much your fault as anyone else's (in her head, Akane thought 'mine') that he's here! Maybe Saotome, MAYBE if you'd spent a little more time thinking of your son's well being than yourself, he wouldn't have been driven this far! Did you ever ONCE ask him what HE wanted?? NO!! And you know why?? BECAUSE YOU'RE A SELFISH, HYPOCRITICAL, MANIPULATIVE, TWISTED HUMAN BEING!!!!!"

"TENDO!" Genma turned to Soun, and pointed accusingly at Akane. "Are you just going to let her speak to me like that??" When Soun didn't answer, he faced Akane again; he was no longer scared, but livid.

"I knew from the start you were trouble Akane. I should never have allowed this-" he spat the word out as if it were a joke -"'engagement' to take place. As of today, you will have nothing to do with my son."

Akane let out a wild laugh. "But Saotome, I thought he was no longer your son!"

Genma flushed. He stuttered, but Akane cut him off.

"Get over it, Saotome" she turned to look at Ranma. "Because I'm going to marry your son." Ranma's head jerked up. He looked at Akane, with an expression that was not surprise, but wonder. Just simple wonder. Akane approached Ranma's bedside, and dropped to her knees.

"Ranma... I made the biggest mistake of my life when I walked out of your apartment. You did nothing wrong. I accept the blame for this incident, and I will never forgive myself. But if you... maybe... could forgive me... I would like to be your wife. I love you Ranma, and I will never say anything again, for the rest of my life, that will come from deeper in my heart."

Akane closed her eyes and lowered her head. A silence rang through the room, as everyone stared at the pair. Akane heard Ranma shift, and speak the first words he had since he had woken up. So softly only Akane heard it. Six words that would be the most beautiful sound Akane would ever hear.

"Stupid Tomboy. I love you too."

Akane jumped into Ranma's arms and Ranma held her to him so tightly he might have crushed her. As they held each other, the same thought spun through both their minds at once:

'I'll never let go again.'

-R&R-

Dark Eyed Mermaid