Without You

I don't own Ranma ½ or the characters, however any OCs in here are mine!

For those who have commented on this, I know that the beginning was a bit slow but I wanted to write it that way so you as the reader could see the changes between high school and post high school, then also to compare more changes that will occur later in the story. That is my only reason for making the beginning slow. Sorry if that was a real pain to you.

Tap. Tap. Ti-tap, ti-tap, ti-ti-tap. Akane drummed her fingers on her desk as she leaned back in her seat with her headphones on her ears and a book in front of her. It was one of the classics that most people should have read by the time they were in college, and it was written in English. Akane thought that she ought to brush up on her English while waiting for a response from her Uncle Shihiro.

It had been 8 agonizingly long months since she had received and sent in her tape to her uncle and still there was no word. He had sent her a special little card for Christmas saying that the college had gotten the tape and hadn't returned his calls, but he remained optimistic.

Akane wished she could be optimistic. What was to say that this college of all the arts wasn't going to reject her like all the colleges she had tested for in Japan?

There were two soft knocks at the door, but Akane never heard them as her music was being blasted in her ears. So, while she was completely oblivious to the world around her, Akane didn't realize that her sister was in her room with her until Kasumi's smiling face was looking down at her.

"Ah!!!" Akane screamed, falling backwards in her chair. "Ugh…shi…" Her back hurt and so did her the back of her head for that matter.

"Oh Akane, are you okay?" Kasumi asked with a distressed expression as she bent down and helped her baby sister up.

"Ow! Remind me to never do that ever again," Akane muttered, rubbing the back of her head.

Kasumi smiled gently as she set her sister on the bed. "I'll go get some ice." Setting down an envelope beside Akane, Kasumi got up and went downstairs for the ice.

"That really smarts," hissed Akane, unaware of the letter until it poked at her thigh. "Huh? What's this?" Picking up the envelope, Akane saw her name written at the top in Japanese.

Biting her lower lip, Akane opened the letter, completely forgetting about the pain in the back of her head.

Recognizing the handwriting of her Uncle Shihiro, Akane's eyes widened in anticipation and worry. Was this her rejection letter? Or could it be her acceptance notice? Did she really want to find out?

Kasumi returned to Akane's room with a small bag of ice. "Here you go," she said, handing the bag to Akane. "I see you found the letter."

With the bag of ice in her lap, Akane stared down at the letter in uncertainty. She didn't want to read it, she didn't want to the read the words, 'We are sorry to inform you…' for that would be all that she would need to hear to know that the college had rejected her.

"Would you read it for me?" Akane requested, handing the letter to Kasumi.

Nodding, Kasumi took the letter and sat down at the end of the bed while Akane leaned up against the wall with the bag of ice pinched between the wall and her head.

Taking out two letters from the envelope, Kasumi unfolded the first one then set it aside and opened the other letter. "'Dear Ms. Akane Tendo,'" Kasumi read, "'we at ----'s University of All the Arts are pleased to inform you that have been accepted into our education system!' Oh Akane!"

She couldn't breath; in fact Akane couldn't even feel her heart pounding in her chest as she echoed the word 'accepted' in her mind. Finally, she was accepted into a college, someone has accepted her, not Nabiki but her, Akane Tendo.

"Ahhhhh!" Akane shrieked in excitement as she lung forward and hugged her sister tightly, the bag of ice long forgotten. "Oh my God!"

Soon Ranma came racing into Akane's room ready to fight off any opponent that dared to enter Akane's room, unless it was a naked Ryoga, then Ranma was just going to laugh.

Upon entering the room, Ranma found only Akane and Kasumi in a sisterly embrace looking up at him in bewilderment.

"Hello Ranma," Kasumi greeted, "was there something you needed?"

Blinking a couple of times, Ranma leaned against the doorframe and shook his head. "I had heard someone scream and I thought that…well, anyways, it seems that it was nothing really," he explained lamely.

Starring up at Ranma, Akane noticed that on the collar of his Chinese shirt was a smudge of lipstick. Instantly she was inwardly jealous at the person, most likely Shampoo, who had been with Ranma long enough to kiss him.

That jerk, Akane snorted as her eyes began to squint in a distinctive sign of anger. "Kasumi and I are quite alright, Ranma, as you can see. You can go return to Shampoo or whoever you were entertaining," assured Akane through clenched teeth. It was hard to hold back anger, it truly was.

"Entertaining?" echoed Ranma in confusion. "What are you talking about?!"

Getting up, Akane approached Ranma, standing so close with such a strong aura that Ranma was almost certain that he was going to get hit with the mallet again, for no reason at all.

Instead of pulling out her trusty mallet, Akane tapped the side of Ranma's shirt with that had the lipstick and stated, "Next time you don't others to know your business, don't wear it on your shirt!"

Before Ranma could respond, Akane shoved him out of her room and slammed the door in his face.

"What are you talking about you stupid tomboy?!" shouted Ranma, glaring at the door before stalking down the hall to his room. "Honestly, does she have to make such a big deal out of nothing?"

Meanwhile, in Akane's room, the youngest Tendo gave her door a good little kick as she turned back to Kasumi.

"That jerk, acting like he didn't know that there was a smudge of lipstick on his shirt," muttered Akane, still mad at her fiancée.

Kasumi hadn't really been paying attention as she was reading the letter from their Uncle Shihiro and a look of utter worry crossed her features. "Oh my. Akane, your plane leaves tomorrow morning," she told her sister.

"What?" Walking over to the bed, Akane took the letter out of Kasumi's hands and read over it. "'Enclosed is a one way ticket to the USA for Friday the 18th in May. We only wish for you to come to the United States early so that you may get used to the new surroundings and get some practice with the language before going to class. I hope that you have told your family by now.' Oh great…" Akane groaned.

Getting up, Kasumi went to the door and turned to her sister. "Why don't you tell everyone at dinner, Akane? Then we can work out a plan on getting you to Tokyo. In the meantime, why don't you start packing a bag or two to take with you?"

"Kasumi, do you think that I should be leaving Japan just to go to a college that is kilometers away from home?" Akane inquired, starring down at the letter that contained her plane ticket.

Smiling softly, Kasumi answered, "Akane, you've wanted to go to college since you got out of school, but I also think you need some time away from Nerima. It will do you some good to stay with Uncle Shihiro and Aunt Lorain."

Filled with new confidence, Akane nodded. "Thank you Kasumi."

"Sure thing. Just remember to tell everyone at dinner."

Nodding numbly, Akane faintly heard the door close before she turned to her room and began to search for items she knew she needed.

At the beginning of dinner, Akane sat there playing with her food as she thought of a way to start up the topic of her going to college in the United States. Nothing seemed to work for her, then again it didn't help that Ranma was still wearing the lipstick marked shirt.

He wears it like it's some sort of badge of honor, remarked Akane bitterly.

"So Akane," Soun spoke up, "what was that letter Shihiro sent you?"

Ranma tensed, he had almost completely forgotten about that mysterious Shihiro person who had sent Akane a package several months ago. Now that Mr. Tendo had mentioned the name, Ranma felt intrigued to know what his latest present to Akane was.

"He was just informing me of a decision," Akane lamely answered, hoping to dampen any further questioning.

"What decision?" Nabiki piped up from across the table.

Looking over at Kasumi for some reassurance, Akane found her older sister giving her a supportive smile and that made all the difference for the youngest Tendo.

"Well, back in October Uncle Shihiro," Akane began.

Uncle?! Ranma's mind repeated. That was her Uncle?! I wasn't even aware that she had an Uncle!

"He had sent me that package and he had offered me the opportunity to go to college in the USA." Akane waited for her family's reaction to the news. Her father began to choke on his food and Nabiki's eyes widened by a minor fraction that most people would have thought that she was unfazed by the news. Genma turned to Soun with a look that simply said, 'What are we going to do now?' and Ranma was in complete shock.

"So little sis, what was the verdict? Did you get rejected again?" Nabiki smirked, she had already figured out the answer. She only asked because she knew that no one else would have.

Akane grinned sheepishly as she lowered her head a bit. "Actually, I got accepted."

Instead of hearing the sounds of joyous cheers like she expected, Akane only heard her father ask her, "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Akane answered.

Unconsciously Ranma balled his hands into fist in his lap. How could she just suddenly pick up and leave like that?!

"WHAT?!" both fathers yelled.

"That leaves us no time to prepare the wedding then," Genma declared, surprising both Ranma and Akane.

"Wedding? Pops, what the hell are you talking about? What wedding?" Ranma questioned, partially frightened about the answer. Ranma had a fairly good idea of whose wedding it was supposed to be but he just wanted to be certain.

Genma gave his son an irritated glare. "Yours and Akane's, boy!"

"Excuse me?!" Akane voiced, slamming her chopstick on the table.

"That's right Akane, there's no way that you're leaving this country still unmarried to Ranma," Soun stated while Genma nodded in the background.

Angered that her father was even considering trying to marry Ranma and herself again, Akane got up and stalked out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom. It hurt Akane that her father was throwing all this at her during her last night home, but it hurt even more that he wasn't supporting her or giving her any sort of praise.

Downstairs, Kasumi gathered Akane's food onto a tray while both fathers argued with Ranma about the marriage plans.

Normally, Kasumi would have not interfered but since it did concern her sister's current happiness, she felt the need to intervene.

"Father, perhaps you could go upstairs and give this to Akane. I'm sure she's hungry or she will be hungry shortly with all the packing she has been doing all day," suggested Kasumi holding out the tray.

Seeing it as an excellent time to convince his youngest daughter to marry Ranma, Soun gladly agreed and took the tray, but Kasumi didn't let him leave yet.

"Perhaps you should apologize too, father," Kasumi whispered. "This trip is not just about Akane going to college, it's about her getting the proper training that she needs and about her own happiness."

Surprised at his eldest daughter's words, Soun nodded soberly and went to see Akane, and to get everything straightened before she left him for the United States tomorrow.

Thank you to:

Hououza, The Liz, Ulitheal, black-lotusblossom, Hanoi, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, Jennyroseangel, and Key. Thank you so much for your support!