Summary: Life for Akane had not gone the way she hoped and a chance for a new life fell into her lap and she took it, leaving Japan all together. It is now ten years later and Akane is back in Tokyo filming a movie, will she want her old life back or will stardom come between her and what she really wants. This story will revolve around the ten years of the Ranma cast's lives.

Disclaimer: Yeah right, if Ranma ½ were mine, then well I would be filthy stinking rich, wouldn't I?

Thank you all so much for you wonderful reviews, I hope you all enjoy this next episode

It's What I Want

Episode 2—Hurray For Hollywood

Soun Tendou stared at the note that Akane left for the family, he couldn't believe it. His daughter seemed to have run away. He felt the emptiness surround him, nothing was making sense anymore. Why had she done this, was this all because of Ranma, did she leave because of him, or was there a reason that he did not know about that caused his youngest daughter to leave in silent, secretive behavior? He had never known she was thinking about leaving, the thought never even crossed his mind. Why, why, why?

Nabiki who was coming down the stairs passed her father and headed to the kitchen for some juice. She heard sniffling.

"Kasumi?" Nabiki asked while pulling a pitcher of red cranberry juice from the refrigerator. "Are you all right?"

Kasumi tasted the Miso soup and put the spoon down on the counter "It's Akane, she's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"The letter didn't say." Kasumi said then pulling the pan off the stove, she started ladling the soup into five bowls, the sixth one would not be filled and Kasumi couldn't help but feel the loss. She turned around facing her sister with a smile on her face though. "Breakfast is nearly ready." Kasumi said cheerfully as she carefully placed each bowl on a tray and carried it out to the table.

Nabiki followed her sister into the tea room "Letter, Akane left a letter?"

"Yes she did," Kasumi set the bowls at each place setting "I hope she is all right, where ever she may be." The eldest sister went back into the kitchen to get the rest of the breakfast foods.

Soon everyone was sitting around the table, Soun was merely picking at his food, Nabiki was eating regularly, and Kasumi who was scooping another bowl of rice for Genma smiled.

"Here you are." She said handing him the bowl.

Ranma wandered in late "Yo, sorry I'm late. I must've over slept."

A loud clatter hit the table, it was Soun he had slammed his chopsticks down on the table rather hard, creating a ruckus. "Ranma! This is all your fault!"

"Now wha'd I do?" Ranma had jumped back a bit, taking a defensive stance.

"Whoa now Tendou," Genma started to say. "What could he have done in such a short amount of time? Unless it was midnight eating and making a huge mess in our room again" He immediately rounded on Ranma "All right boy, out with it. What did you do?"

Waving his hands wildly in the air, Ranma really hadn't a clue what he had done, well actually he had a small clue… "Nothing Pop, sheesh." He felt sweat of guilt prickling. He had been doing something all right and now he was sure he was busted.

"How could you Ranma, my poor little girl, my sweet innocent little Akane," Soun sobbed, bringing his arm up covering his eyes as he cried loudly into his sleeve.

Ranma swallowed hard, but how did he find out!? He was always so careful. "Um…Uh….I can explain! Really! Mr. Tendo, I didn't mean to do it. I just couldn't help it!"

"Then explain this!" Soun pushed the letter that has been wrinkled so many times from his reading it, across the smooth polished table, to Ranma's spot.

Feeling a huge surge of relief wash over him, knowing that Mr. Tendou did not know about Ranma's late night visits to Akane's room, he felt a tad better, able to keep it a secret for now. Bending over, Ranma read the letter silently to himself, his eyes widening in shock.

"Akane is gone and it's all your fault Ranma!" Soun pointed at him, his face red and his eyes glassy, his bottom lip started quivering again and he howled with his tears.

Ranma reached down clutching the letter in his hand, crushing it. He jolted upright and ran from the room, racing up the stairs towards Akane's room. He violently threw the door open and it banged loudly into the wall. He stepped inside, the room was empty. Ranma noticed the bed was neatly made, the room felt vacant and cold, loneliness seemed to surround him entirely. Ranma looked towards the closet which was open and most of her clothing was missing, only wire hangers and some old coats and other garments were hung in there. Walking to Akane's desk, Ranma found several pieces of paper sitting there, letters starting out different ways. 'Dear Dad, Kasumi, Nabiki. I'm sorry I can't stay here,' which was crossed out, there was another one which was also addressed to Ranma and his father, it started to explain about her breaking off the engagement but it was also scratched out.

This must have been what she was writing last night while he had been watching her. It was hitting him all at once, she left...She left him! His blue eyes clouded with controlled anger and pain. How could she do such a thing! And why? He glared down at the letter in his hand "Akane, you stupid…" He shouted at it, how could she just leave, how could she!?

Downstairs, Soun was finally settling down "How could she just leave us like this, we should go after her."

Kasumi cleared her throat "Now Father, we should honor Akane's request."

"Don't you miss her Kasumi?" Soun asked, his eyes threatening to spill over once more with tears.

"Father this is what Akane wants, you have never thought about what is best for her." Kasumi took a small sip of her tea "You only forced her into an arrangement for our family Dojo, not giving a thought about Akane's feelings. She is struggling to find meaning in her life, something just for her."

"But she's all alone." Soun whimpered.

"That may be," Kasumi smiled at her father "But I have faith in my sister, I know she will be all right. Akane is strong, and stubborn. Nothing will stand in her way, she has the whole world at her feet right now. Let her explore her life and find what she is longing for."

"I couldn't have said that better myself Kasumi," Nabiki said. Then looking at Genma "Now what do we do about these freeloaders, now that the engagement is off."

"Now, now Nabiki, lets not be too hasty here. Akane might come back. She's done this type of thing before." Genma said smiling, he really didn't want to be kicked out, not when he didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Not like this." Ranma's voice came from the archway "Her clothes are gone, and her room is empty Pop." He sounded so, so, so controlled. His voice and posture did not really give away anything he was feeling. "She's left all right, but it's not like its important or anything. This was a huge waste of time." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. "I never liked the stupid, idiot girl anyway." His eyes avoiding everyone, he stared at the floor. "I never wanted to be engaged to Akane in the first place."

Nabiki cleared her throat "Yeah right, Ranma." She lifted her tea cup to her lips and took a drink, her eyes closing. "Perhaps if you would have just said something to her, she wouldn't have left. She might still be here."

Ranma's fist went into the wall, yet his eyes were closed and he looked very calm. "Stop trying to blame all of this on me, do ya hear me Nabiki. Akane left it was her own decision to make. It ain't like I did anything different to cause her to leave, so just stop makin' it all my fault."

"That's just it Ranma, you didn't do anything different." Nabiki stood "Akane can only take rejection so long before it decides to eat away at her. She left and it was probably a good thing she did. I'm glad she's gone, just so she's far away from you!" Nabiki never yelled or really showed any kind of emotion, but she was angry, angry that Ranma was denying the fact that he was part of the cause of her sister's departure. "Arrogant, prick." Nabiki murmured as she left the room.

"Now, lets all calm down." Kasumi said "I am sure Akane will do fine on her own."

He couldn't take it anymore, Ranma felt as if the world was closing in on him and started to spin faster and faster, anger and betrayal seemed to cloud around him, bringing him into some kind of fog of rage. He bolted from the room, from the house entirely. He jumped to the roof, his fists clinching hard at his sides. "Akane, you dummy!" He yelled loudly into the air "I don't care if you ever come back!!" He ripped the letter to shreds and threw the pieces in different directions.

Akane jolted awake, her eyes snapping open instantly. Someone was shaking her, she turned to the person next to her looking at him curiously.

"We are landing now." Kenichi said while his mother helped put his crayons back in his backpack.

Turning back towards the window, Akane looked out, the plane was descending towards the earth, her nerves started attacking her again. What if all of this turned out to be a big mistake, she was all alone in a country she had never been before, into another crowded city, and yet a sense of excitement filled her entirely and her face was plastered to the window.

"Welcome to California, Akane." Robert said while leaning over his wife and child.

Hearing his voice, Akane looked at him, a small but unsure smile forming on her lips. Her head turned back around to the window. She could see them descending towards the airport, she closed her eyes as she pushed herself back into the cushion as the plane touched the earth. The sensation of pressure in her ears made her cringe.

"Miss Akane," Kenichi was poking her shoulder to get her attention, so she turned and looked at him, he had a piece of gum extended to her. "This will make your ears all better." He grinned.

"Thanks," With a smile on her face Akane gladly accepted the piece of gum from the boy's hand, she opened the silver foil wrapper and stuck the fruit flavored gum in her mouth and started chewing it.

The passengers soon left the airplane and headed down through the airport to the baggage claim. Akane followed Robert's family and they had to wait a few minutes for their luggage to appear. After gathering his family and Akane's luggage he turned to them family and said "I'll go get the car."

Akane was watching the many different kinds of people passing by, she was a bit nervous. Perhaps she wouldn't fit in here, she wondered if Aya felt the same way when she moved here from Japan. She didn't realize that Aya's gaze was on her until she looked in the older woman's direction.

"How was your flight, Akane?" Aya asked, noticing the girl's uncomfortable stance and facial expressions.

"Long," Akane answered looking around, someone nearly bumped into her and she managed to avoid getting knocked into. The man that almost knocked into her was tall and his head was shaved, he had a tattoo of an eagle on his arm, he gave her a dirty glare as if it was her fault that she was standing there. Akane gave him one right back, then turning he gaze, calmly to Aya and said "I was thinking I should probably call my family, to let them know I am all right."

Aya's brows narrowed in thought "You mean they didn't know?"

Akane shook her head "No, I didn't tell them." Her face was slightly changing to a soft crimson, "I left them a note before I left for the airport."

"Why didn't you say anything to them?" Aya was upset with that factShe would have hated it to one day find her son had left without a word to anyone, just picked up and left.

"If I had talked to them about it, they would have forced me to stay and into a situation where I would not be happy." Akane sighed, she didn't want to think about what would have happened if she told her family, she left in a cowardly manner it was true. All she had done on the airplane since she left Japan was think about a certain jerk, and she did not want to continue doing that. Akane wanted to forget all about him, her father would have made her stay and marry said jerk, and she would have been unhappy for the rest of her life since he did not want to be with her. "It is just better that I had left home that way."

Aya nodded, not really understanding Akane's reasons for leaving like a thief in the night, but she would do her best to help Akane adjust to life here in Los Angeles. "I don't know your reasons of not speaking to your family, but they must be good ones for you to have been so secretive. I will do all I can to help you here in this strange new city."

"Thank you, Aya." Akane looked away from her, and to her blue bags. Her eyes squinted as the color of her bags seemed to resemble the color of Ranma's ey—Ugh! Akane's mind shouted at her. 'stop thinking about him!' her mind shouted.

Robert came in from the outside hurrying towards Aya "All right, let's get going." He grabbed some of the luggage and started wheeling it outside, with Akane and his family following after him. Robert popped the trunk of his nice silver Infinity and started loading the luggage into it. "First we are going to take Akane to the agency's house so that she may get settled in there and then we'll head on home." He waited till everyone got into the car before climbing in the driver's seat himself. Robert pulled out of the LAX traffic and onto the freeway. "Now Akane, you will be staying at the house the agency lets it's clients stay in for free, but for anything extra like spending money for recreation you might want to consider getting a part time job until your acting career takes charge."

Akane nodded, listening to what he was saying. She was more impressed with the surroundings, as the sun was setting the lights of Los Angeles made her smile, it reminded her of home in some ways.

They pulled off the freeway and Akane could see it, she sat up straighter and plastered her face to the window looking out she could see the ocean, they were now in Malibu where the house was. The ocean, it was beautiful and blue, the waves washing up on the beach were so peaceful and welcoming. They drove a little bit further and Akane saw one of the largest houses she had ever seen. It was tall and white, with stucco paint, there was an iron gate and a numbered key pad, where Robert had to stop the car and punch in the code before driving through the gate. The driveway was made of red clay bricks as he drove the car up to the house.

Getting out of the car, Akane stood and looked all around her, she could definitely hear the ocean. She let Robert remove her luggage from the trunk before helping him wheel it to the door. They passed a rock and cactus gardens, which were on both sides of the reddish stone pathway. Coming to the door, which was very tall and thick, it was a soft pinkish color, it had an iron door handle which Robert pushed down the handle and pushed the door open.

"Hello?" His voice echoed in the tall entry way, his shoes clicked on the gray tile entry way. "Anyone home?"

Akane took a deep breath and stepped over the thresh hold after Robert, she was wondering what he was doing. She bent down to remove her shoes, and as she sat them down on the tiles, she then heard voices and they seemed to get closer and she stood upright as two people came through the curved archway, one man and one woman. They didn't look too much older than herself.

The woman, was kind of tall, with long dark red hair and bright green eyes, she was wearing a yellow sundress with small rosebuds patterned on it. She looked friendly and she smiled at Robert. The other man wasn't nearly as tall as the woman, but he too looked friendly, his hair was short and chocolate brown, his eyes were a dark brown. And he was wearing a red tank top and white khaki shorts.

"Hey Robert," The woman said, and then she looked at Akane. "Who's this?"

Robert smiled and put his arm around Akane slightly and pushed her forward "This is Akane Tendou, she's your new housemate, she's from Japan."

"Hi Akane," She smiled at her "I'm Gloria."

Akane bowed her head slightly "Hello."

Gloria then gestured towards the man standing next to her "This is Cameron,"

"It's nice to meet you." Akane said looking at Cameron, he seemed to be nervous the way he was shifting around.

Robert cleared his throat "Well I'll leave you to get settled in here Akane, I'll call in the morning with a few appointments that I will have set up for you."

Akane nodded and turned watching Robert wave slightly to Gloria and Cameron before leaving through the front door. Clearing her throat, feeling rather uncomfortable, she smiled even though she did not feel happy on the inside.

"The third door on the left, that room has not been occupied yet." Gloria said, "We have two more house mates but they are out tonight." She pointed to the hallway, and Akane look in that direction. "That's where the bedrooms are.

"Ah, thank you." Akane grabbed her bags throwing a few over her shoulder while grabbing her suitcase. She hurried down the hall to the third door on the left. Upon opening it, she felt around the wall for a light switch. Flipping on the light, Akane found the room to be quite nice. There was a queen size bed with a dark navy blue comforter, a dresser and a small bookshelf. Next to the closet there was a large picture window with blue curtains that matched the comforter. Stepping inside the room she put her bags down on the bed, then wheeling her suitcase over she picked it up and threw it down next to her bags and opened it. She started putting her clothes away.

There was a knock and Akane turned seeing Gloria standing in the door way "Can I help you?"

Gloria stepped inside the room "I was just seeing how you settling in here."

"I am fine." Akane said then walked towards the closet and started hanging up a few of her blouses.

"So…" Gloria sat down on the side of the bed "Would you like some help?"

Akane shook her head "No, I can do it." She did not know why she was being so cold to this girl. She seemed really friendly.

Gloria could hear a slight attitude in the girl's voice, but then she remembered how she behaved when she came here to Los Angeles from Oklahoma, she too was alone. "Tell me where you come from, I know Robert said something about Japan?"

Akane dropped the skirt she was hanging up on the hanger on the bed "Hai," She nodded "I come from Nermia, in Tokyo."

"Ah, Tokyo, I've always wanted to go there." Gloria ran a hand through her vibrant red hair "What's it like?"

Thinking a moment, Akane sat down on the side of her bed next to Gloria "It is very crowded, but it was home."

Gloria nodded "Oh I understand about home, I miss mine too." She noticed that in Akane's open luggage there was a photo album and she pointed to it. "May I?"

Looking in the direction Gloria pointed in Akane saw what she wanted to look at and nodded.

Taking the leather bound album out of the suitcase, Gloria turned to the first page, seeing a picture of two girls, one with an a-line hair cut and one with long hair with it held together on the side against her shoulder with a blue hair scrunchie. "Who are these girls?"

"Oh," Akane looked over at the picture "Those are my sisters" She pointed to the one with short hair "That is Nabiki, she's a year older than me, and this one" She pointed to the girl with long hair "…is Kasumi, she is three years older than me."

Gloria smiled "I bet your family is proud of ya." She did not see Akane shrug her shoulders and continued to look through the pictures, she found a few of Akane's friends and one teenage boy in what looked like a uniform of some kind holding a stick. She was sure that Akane said his name was Tatewake Kuno and he was an idiot. She laughed about Akane's story how this Kuno guy would talk and behave. Gloria then saw a picture of a few guy's that were Akane's friends, one guy had long hair and glasses, Akane said that his name was Mousse and that he was from China and the other guy in the picture had a bad sense of direction and his name was Ryouga. They seemed like nice boys to her.

Gloria saw pictures of Akane's father and a few girls that Akane wasn't really good friends with but there were pictures of them anyway. Ukyou, Akane said was a good friend even though she wouldn't go into why they were rivals and one girl she did not like at all, her name was Shampoo. As soon as Gloria asked about Shampoo, Akane cleared her throat and turned the page, seeing a few more photos.

"Hey," Gloria started to say "Who's this guy, he's pretty hot." She was pointing to the picture of a guy who had his hair in a pigtail and he was wearing a red Chinese style shirt. Gloria watched Akane's facial expressions, the emotions that passed through her eyes were first happy then sad then moved right into angry.

"Oh Ranma? He's stupid and a jerk, and I hate him." Akane threw her nose in the air and closed her eyes tightly, crossing her arms against her breasts.

Her brows arched, Gloria then smiled lightly "Well if you hate him then why do you have his picture." She saw the girl's posture stiffen, yet heard her sigh. Akane's eyes opened and she looked right at Gloria.

"All right, well perhaps I don't hate him." Akane glanced down at her fingers in her lap and started twirling them together.

"Was he special to you?" Gloria moved closer to Akane, she noticed that the girl seemed very depressed.

Akane just shrugged "It's a long story." She said barely above a whisper.

Gloria lifted her hand and rested it gently on Akane's shoulder "I've got time."

Ranma sneezed and looked around suspiciously, wondering if someone was talking about him since he wasn't sick. He shrugged it off and went back to his task of packing up his pack.

The door was thrown open and Genma stood there "Where do you think you're goin' boy?"

"I ain't staying around here old man, I'm going to get Akane." Ranma still couldn't believe that Akane left like she did, so he was going to go and find her, wherever she was, he would never stop looking for her.

"Oh no you're not, didn't you read her letter? She doesn't want anyone coming after her. I think that means you as well." Genma pointed at Ranma "Don't make this situation any worse than it is."

Ranma growled and jumped to his feet "She shouldn't have left, the stupid girl. She's gonna get herself into trouble."

"That is not your problem." Genma grunted as Ranma's foot smashed him in the chest "Ranma, forget about Akane." Genma ran and tried to punch Ranma in the face but the boy dodged easily. "Tendou is letting us stay here until we find somewhere else to go, and I have a brilliant idea."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Ranma rolled his eyes. "Brilliant idea, you? You have got to be kidding."

"You still have two fiances Ranma, so I've made arrangements for you to marry Ukyou."

"What?!" Ranma's arms shot down at his sides as his fists clinched. "I ain't marryin' Ukyou, Pop. No way!"

Genma pushed his glasses up further against his nose "Yes you are, we'll never go hungry with her for a wife."

Ranma couldn't believe it, just like that he was supposed to forget all about Akane and marry Ukyou? That is impossible. "I can't believe you're making this decision based on your stomach." Then it struck him, oh yeah that was how he got engaged to Ukyou to begin with, because his father wanted their Okonomyaki cart. Ranma closed his eyes, trying to think clearly "I am not just going to marry Ukyou because she will be replacement for Akane."

"It is true I would rather unite the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, but let's face it boy, Akane is gone. You and Akane are not going to happen, we have to make the best with what we have. So Ukyou is the next best choice."

"I can't just forget about Akane." Ranma whispered, he was sure his father didn't catch what he said, but he was wrong.

"Ranma, I'm not asking you to forget about Akane. But we need to be realistic and move on." Genma never really said anything of importance, but right now he seemed to be. "You don't even know where Akane went, we're you just going to travel the world to find her? I don't think she wants to see you ever again or she would have told you she was leaving."

Ranma groaned and ran a hand through his hair "I don't wanna marry Ukyou," 'I don't love her.' He thought to himself, but wouldn't dare speak about his emotions in front of his father.

"You don't have a choice boy, Ukyou will be a fine wife, now be a man and take this decision like one." Genma turned and left the room.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Ranma sank to the floor. "Stupid Pop, stupid Akane." He grumbled. Looking over at his half packed, pack, Ranma groaned and kicked it. It flew into the wall imbedding itself into the wood. This was not supposed to be happening. Not at all, Akane running away has ruined his life and he would never forgive her for this. Ever.

Well that's it for Episode 2. In the next episode, Akane will have gotten on acting job and meets a new friend. Ranma is forced to marry Ukyou. Hmm Ukyou of course will be happy, but what about Ranma.? Well Until then readers. Thanks, and remember to review.

Ryoko Blue