Without You

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

Wow, was all Akane could think as she stared up at the dojo which was actually a workout gym that happened to have a matted gym for Uncle Shihiro to rent for his classes.

"Akane, are you going to come in or gawk at the building some more?" teased Shihiro in a low voice, carrying body matting for one of his newly returned students who had came back from the hospital and was told to take it easy.

Snapping out of her awe, Akane gave her uncle a warning glare. So far she hadn't lost her temper and she didn't plan on losing it anytime soon either.

Throughout the day Akane had gotten to see many new things, some big and some small. Like when Akane went into the kitchen for breakfast, there wasn't a spread of food and a bowl of rice waiting for the whole family to dig into. Nothing awaited her at the table except for her Aunt Lorain who had greeted Akane with hugs and kisses.

That morning, for the first time ever, Akane had to eat a traditional Japanese breakfast alone since everyone else had already eaten. Apparently, she was also the only person to actually sit at the kitchen table and eat, everyone else kept taking food and drinks into other rooms.

It was all very strange to Akane, back home she would eat all meals with her family and everyone would eat in the same area. This however, wasn't home she had to remind herself, reluctantly. This was America, not Japan.

"So what do you think of the place?" Shihiro inquired, leading Akane past all the people on treadmills and weight-lifting machines.

"It…different," she answered honestly. It was different; to Akane a dojo was a small home-like structure meant for training and had wooden walls, floors, and ceilings. This place was not only a dojo but a gym, and the students weren't going to be surrounded by wood but rather mats. Different indeed.

"Oh I bet it is," smiled Shihiro, holding open the door to the dojo room for Akane.

Entering the room Akane found it filled with about fifteen students from all different ethnic groups, various ranks in martial arts, and of both genders. Akane was relieved to find that the class had several girls.

In Nermia, martial arts had always ostracized her from other girls merely because most other girls didn't study the arts. Yet, right before her eyes, Akane saw that there were other girls like herself who had taken up the study of martial arts.

If only Ranma could see this, she thought. Or even better! If Uncle Shihiro paired Ranma with one of these girls in a sparring match, I wonder how he'd handle himself then.

Akane snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed that the eyes of all students were centered on her. She received a mixture of stares; some looked upon her with intrigue, others with cockiness, and the few looked upon her with indifference.

"There's so many," she muttered, impressed that her uncle even had such a fairly large class to teach.

"Yup, and they're all mine to teach," grinned Shihiro, setting down the body padding. "Class, before we begin I would like you all to meet Akane Tendo."

For a moment Akane whipped her head toward her uncle with a questioning expression on her face. Why hadn't he mentioned that she was his niece? Was it because he didn't wish anyone to believe that she would or should be given special treatment? Whatever the reason was, Akane was grateful that he hadn't mentioned that she was his niece. She was there to train like everyone else with all the same challenges.

Ignoring Akane's look, Shihiro continued, "She has studied martial arts for years and she will be joining our classes from here on out! Make her feel welcomed and be courteous."

The "courteous" portion seemed to have directed at one individual in particular, a girl with fiery red hair and who seemed to tower over most of the other students.

Observing the girl, Akane could see the signs of an ill-tempered person who could just blow at any moment over anything. In a way, the girl reminded Akane of herself, at least a younger version of herself.

"Come on Akane, there's a few people I want you to meet," Uncle Shihiro whispered to Akane, leading her over to the back wall where three older students, probably the eldest students in the class, were lined up. "Afternoon guys," Shihiro greeted them.

"Hey Master Shihiro, what's up?" returned one of the male students. The man had spiked black hair with one streak of blue dangling in his hazel eyes. Next to him was a young girl about Akane's age with lengthy strawberry-blond hair and sparkling green eyes that seemed to reflect her every emotion.

"Michael, Stacy, Christian, I would like you three to meet the special student I have been telling you about for the last several months. Akane these three are going to be your main sparring partners: Michael Bross and his brother Christian Bross, and Stacy Revlo. I trust that you three can make Akane feel comfortable while I get the class started," Shihiro stated with a wink before leaving the four students.

The first one to speak was the boy with the blue streak. "Hi, I'm Michael and that thing over there is my younger brother Christian," he clarified.

Christian was very much like his brother except in the fact that he seemed to be more lax and had shaggy hair rather than spiked. He also didn't have the dyed streak that Michael had.

"And I'm Stacy obviously, Michael's girlfriend," the girl added politely. She hadn't said "Michael's girlfriend" in a threatening or warning tone; she just simply stated it casually.

"Akane Tendo, Shihiro's…" Akane stopped; she didn't know if she was allowed to say that she was Shihiro's niece or not.

"Niece?" offered Christian, speaking for the first time, meeting Akane's eyes. "Yeah, we kind of already knew about that, but trust me, that doesn't mean we're going to go easy on you in any way."

Liking the guy's attitude, Akane gave him a once over and smirked, "I wouldn't have it any other way."


It was one in the morning and Ranma couldn't sleep. Okay, so it hadn't been that long since Akane had left but it bothered Ranma so much that he found himself unable to sleep.

Instead he stood in a headstand position with his legs crossed Indian style over him. In Ranma's mind, if he perhaps had all his blood rush to his head his mind wouldn't be so occupied with Akane. Then he could go to sleep, hopefully.

It wasn't helping; it was actually making it worse.

He just couldn't help but feel a bit useless, defeated even, despite the fact that there hadn't been any fight that he could have lost. What was wrong with him?

"Keh, so what if that tomboy is in America, at least she's out of my sights and out of danger," snorted Ranma. "I won't have to go rescue her from some kidnapping or other, no need to bail her out of a fight with Shampoo or Kodachi, and no need to keep telling people that we're not in love."

Flipping back onto his feet, Ranma began to pace about the room, ignoring the not-so gentle snores of his father.

"Why did she have to leave? I mean sure there was that college and it sounds pretty good, but beyond that she didn't have a reason to leave so suddenly," muttered Ranma as he paced. "Why couldn't she just have gone to a college here in Japan? Were the rejections really that horrible?"

Ranma had always been aware of the rejection letters Akane had received in the past but he always brushed them off with a 'why would anyone want to go to more school?' or a 'what do you need school for?'

He never understood why Akane was so persistent about going to college, especially since she was supposed to inherit the Tendo Dojo and she would eventually marry whatever poor jerk she could trick into marrying her. So, where in that did Akane need more school?

"Stupid Akane, you always had to try and make something out of yourself," grumbled Ranma, leaving the room and blindly wandering down the hallway until he came upon Akane's room. Of course they had kept the duck sign with her name on the door; what would she do with it in America?

Raising his hand to knock on the door, Ranma stopped himself and lowered his arm.

"Idiot," he scuffed at himself, "what would you be knocking for, she's not in there or anywhere in the house."

Enclosing the brass door knob within one of his hands, Ranma couldn't help but notice how odd it felt to him to enter Akane's room without knocking or going in through the window.

Shaking off the uneasy feeling, Ranma turned the knob and pushed the door open to reveal Akane's empty room. It wasn't so much empty physically. Everything was still there; her few posters, her made-up bed, cluttered dresser that had a few books lying on top, and her window was still open, causing the drapes to swish whenever a breeze entered the room.

In the past Ranma had always felt a sense that the room was alive with Akane in it but now that she was gone the room seemed hollow, dead even.

Going over to the dresser, Ranma picked up one of Akane's American books she had been reading a few weeks ago. Carrying the book over to the bed, Ranma hesitantly sat down on the bed. He had half expected to find Akane sleeping underneath the blankets and be awoken by the shift in weight of the bed. However, nothing happened and it disappointed Ranma somewhat.

Taking a few seconds to collect himself after sitting upon the bed, Ranma glanced down at the book in his hand.

It wasn't a large book but perhaps a good 100 pages or more, and it was soft cover-Akane could never afford the hardcover books. Bringing the book close to his face Ranma tried to make out the title of the book but due to the lack of light the words were blurred and fuzzy.

Cautiously, Ranma reached over and turned on the lamp from the nightstand, he didn't wish to somehow wake the entire house up and then be questioned as to his reasons for being in Akane's room at one something in the morning.

With the light on, Ranma could see the title, "Romeo and Juliet". Ranma couldn't quite figure out what the title actually said but he felt that he knew the book from somewhere; he just couldn't place where he knew it from.

Flipping through the book, Ranma tried to read some of it but found that he couldn't understand anything except that the style of writing was that of a playwright.

Closing the book with growl of frustration, Ranma tossed the book into a corner and laid down on the bed only to stare up at the ceiling.

"Stupid English book," Ranma grunted, yet his eyes trailed over to where the book laid forlornly on the ground. Staring at the book for a while, Ranma got up and picked up the book again, placing it back on the dresser. Still, his intrigue with the book wasn't satisfied, he still felt connected to it somehow.

Flipping through the book one last time, Ranma stared hard at the English words, trying to will himself to understand their meanings. Having slept through the better part of English class, Ranma just couldn't comprehend the words on the pages and it frustrated him.

With a snort, Ranma turned off the lamp and headed to the door to go to bed. At the door he threw one last glance at the book and felt that attraction to it again.

Ranma sighed as he left the room, "I wonder if Kasumi is able to read English well enough to understand that book." With that, Ranma closed the door behind him, leaving Akane's room even emptier than what it was.

Thank you to: The Liz, Ulitheal, Hououza, the-shadow002, angelhazel, Den Scurman, ranmababy, Hanoi, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, Jennyroseangel, black-lotusblossom.

Den Scurman: Thank you so much for thinking that I'm doing a good job of characterizing Akane in a realistic fashion. I really hope I don't disappoint you whether it be in the present or future.

I should be able to update in another two weeks, hopefully.