Jane: No, does Ranma ever remember everything he tells Akane when he is mad at her? The answer is no. We all know Ranma never means anything he says, especially to Akane. And don't worry, sometime during the story Ranma and Akane will meet up again and certain things will come up in conversation.

Iluvdanrad: haha yeah Ranma is a bit more pervy in this. Look at it from his point of view though, I mean he's 18 in the start of the story and he hasn't gotten any ever, its bound to drive him a little batty for some physical contact for the girl he loves.

Prizz: Yes Ranma is a big jerk, but he often speaks before he thinks, he has what I like to call Foot-In-Mouth syndrome ;)

Ulitheal: Sorry but Ranma will marry Ukyou, of course I didn't say it was going to last. I'm a firm Ra/Ak fan! Ranma and Akane forever!

Well that seems to be all the reviewers that needed addressing, I thank all the rest of you for your wonderful reviews, they really mean a lot to me.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update this story, I kinda had a writers block on this particular fan fic, now the ideas are back and I will resume it more regularly

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

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.

It's What I Want

Episode 3—Wedding Bell Blues

It had been three months, three long months since Akane left Japan for who knows where. Ranma had heard from Kasumi that Akane had called a few times, but she did not ask about him or disclosed where she was.

It was nearing noon and Ranma stared at his reflection in the mirror, he was dressed in a smart tuxedo, and in just a few short minutes he would be marrying Ukyou. It's not that he didn't like the girl, she just wasn't Akane. Not that he wanted to marry that stupid girl anyway… His mind argued. Ahwho was he kidding? Even though that's how his feelings surely started, but now it's been hard to imagine his life Akane-less. Why was he letting his father push him around like this? Why wasn't he fighting for what he wanted? It was for this reason alone, something inside him broke when Akane left, which in turn left him unable to run after her. She ran off secretly, she didn't want anyone to know where she was. Was she in some kind of trouble? Was she lying dead in the woods somewhere? He would never know because right now he didn't have the courage to meet her face to face. Yes, it was true Ranma was afraid; afraid of Akane's reaction if she and he ever met up again.

What was he doing! Why was he thinking about her again? He promised himself that he would forget about Akane. Yes he was going to marry Ukyou and that was that. He could picture Ukyou now in her beautiful white wedding gown, full and beautiful with bows and ruffles and everything frilly he could picture. He closed his eyes letting his imagination take hold. Oh yes Ukyou was looking quite lovely, her hair swept up in a beautiful twist atop her head with loose tendrils hanging down framing her face. Ranma was smiling into her green eyes which were slowly changing to a dark brown? Her hair changing to a blue black shorter style but still elegant as a white flower was clipped against the right side of her head. "Akane?" Her dress transformed right before his eyes, it changed from an extravagant royal ball gown of lace and sequins to a simple slender satin gown which flowed like water down to her toes. Spaghetti straps made of pearl going over her shoulders, the beaded bodice of the gown seemed to hug her bosom enhancing her figure. He blinked and saw Akane's face light up with a beautiful smile. Ranma's hand extended towards Akane, she tilted her head still smiling adoringly at him then slowly she turned her back on him, Ranma took a step and touched her shoulder only to find his hand seemed to pass right though her, Ranma gasped, "Akane?" He waited as she looked over her shoulder at him, and Akane said… "too late." She winked and giggled running off into the darkness. Ranma could not run after her, his feet were cemented to the ground. He called out for her: "Akane, Akane wait!" All he could hear was her sweet laughter as darkness seemed to glove around him. No, don't do this, no! "AKANE!" Ranma's eyes then shot open, he looked around and found that he was still in one of the rooms at the church waiting to be summoned to the wedding. Ranma squeezed his fists tightly, his eyes darkening with an intensity that not many ever had the privilege of seeing. Why was she tormenting him like this! "Akane you dummy!" He shouted out to no one.

There was a knock at the door and then it opened, Ryouga stood there with his arms folded across his chest. "Getting married?"

"What's it to ya Pork Breath?" Ranma said looking at his reflection and straightening his tie.

Ryouga shrugged coming into the room. "Oh I don't know, even though I hated it I figured you'd of married Akane. But she left you." He snickered, he didn't see Ranma's fist tighten at his side. "You're marrying Ukyou when you certainly miss Akane."

"Me? Miss that stupid tomboy? You've got to be kidding?" Ranma red faced shouted at Ryouga, who had turned towards him with a smirk on his face.

"Well then, if you don't miss her then why did you shout her name in what sounded like desperation?" Ryouga had crossed his arms over his chest, looking smugly at Ranma.

Ranma paled. "No I didn't."

"Yes you did," Ryouga moved over to one of the chairs that were situated around the room and sat down. "And the sooner you admit that you messed up somewhere with Akane, the sooner you will be able to move on."

"What would you know about it? Huh! She didn't leave you!" Ranma slammed his palms over his mouth.

Ryouga hummed. "In a way she left all of us Ranma, but you were the one she would always talk about to me when I was P-Chan. No matter how hard I would try, I knew that she loved you and only you. Even if I had wished that she would love me, it was only a dream. You Ranma, you had the reality."

Slumping down in the chair across from Ryouga, Ranma slouched forward. For the first time he felt like baring his soul, and to his rival for goodness sakes. "A few days before she left everything was fine, it was the same. I didn't do anything different, but Akane, she was acting weird."

"Maybe she finally had, had enough?" Ryouga leaned forward.

Ranma shook his head. "She should not have left that way, she should have talked to me. The letter she wrote I remember said somethin' about needing someone who loved her and that I didn't."

"Did you ever give her reason to think you did?" Ryouga leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I recall many of your fights, not once have I ever said anything hurtful to her, but you… you did it all the time."

Ranma growled. "I ain't the only one to blame, she can be pretty hurtful herself ya know!"

Ryouga couldn't help but laugh about it. "You know, you two were just not meant to be, if you can't get along for more than three minutes without arguing."

"Oh no, there were times when we got along. Of course it would always end with Shampoo doin' somethin' weird, or Kodachi even. And then Akane would blame me and send me airborne."

"I know I've said this to you before Ranma, but I will say it again. No matter who Akane ends up with, I will always love her. I will love her for the rest of my life." Ryouga smiled a little. "Even if I move on, fall in love and marry someone else, I will always remember Akane. No one will take her memories from my mind."

Sitting up, Ranma nodded. "I never wanted her to leave! And I hate to say this, but you're right. And I won't forget her either. Man I never thought I would say you were right about anything." He threw his head back slightly, looking up towards the ceiling. "I miss her. I miss her so much that it hurts." Ranma laughed lightly, but it wasn't an honest laughter it sounded more depressed than anything. Lowering his head he looked at Ryouga, "now I probably sound like a girl, huh?"

Ryouga shrugged. "Eh, you change into one. But who cares, it's normal to have feelings. It's what makes us human."

The door to the room was suddenly thrown open and Shampoo looking as angry as anyone had ever seen her stood there. "Ranma! You no marry Ukyou!"

"Sh—Shampoo!" Ranma sputtered rising to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

She growled stepping forward one step. "Shampoo hear from Mousse that you marry spatula girl, I no can allow." She lifted her arm, her finger pointing at Ranma. The feelings of sorrow and depression filled her eyes, which were brimming with the tears she tried to control from falling. "You no marry Ukyou." Her expression was nothing but extreme concentration as she jumped in the air at him, ready to strike with everything she was feeling. Shampoo did not anticipate Ryouga to grab her ankle and for her to fall to the floor.

On the floor, face down, Shampoo closed her eyes tightly everything she was feeling flowing freely from her eyes, the tears of pain and rejection. She did not even attempt to get up. She had lost, Shampoo the strongest warrior in her village had lost.

Ranma slowly walked over to Shampoo and kneeled down, hesitantly lifting his hand and placing it ever so gently on the back of her head. "Shampoo, I'm sorry." Was all he could say.

Her head snapped up, her violet eyes connecting with his. In a moment of desperation she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Shampoo noticed that this time he did try to remove her from his person. "Ranma, Shampoo love you. Why you marry Ukyou when Shampoo here for you?" She buried her tear streaked face into his chest.

"I have too, and Ukyou and I have been friends since we were kids." Ranma let out a long sigh. "It is the right thing to do, to honor the arrangement that my father had made when I was around five years old. You and I both know that if I wasn't marrying Ukyou, it would have been to Akane." His throat tightened at mentioning her name, Ranma felt it almost hard to breathe.

"Oh Ranma," Shampoo cried out. "Shampoo can no let go." Her embrace tightened and instead of him pushing her away she felt his arms enclose around her, Shampoo's eyes widened in shock as it was the first time ever that he had even held her.

"You have too Shampoo, I know that you are upset and very unhappy." Ranma leaned his cheek atop her head. "And we sometimes have to do things that we don't wanna do." He let his eyes close for a moment. "Even give up our dreams and fantasies to face reality." Ranma slowly moved his hands to her upper arms and grasped her lightly, pushing her back from him a bit. He could see that her cheeks were wet with tears and Shampoo tilted her head a little so that her gaze was pointed to the floor.

She took in a long ragged breath, trying to control the rapid beating of her broken heart. "Shampoo always love Ranma." Her eyes remained glued to the green carpet, "You no forget her?"

Ranma let the tiniest of smiles grace his features. "Nah, how could I? We've been through a lot together."

"Shampoo hope you happy with Ukyou." She of course was lying through her teeth, but if Ukyou was what he really wanted then she will no longer stand in his way. It was true, they were not kids anymore they were on the brink of adulthood, even though in Japan the age for becoming an adult was twenty, Shampoo knew that Ranma seemed to have reached becoming a true man as she sat here on the floor with him at his age of eighteen. Since they were no longer children, Shampoo would not resort to her usual tricks of trying to win him, she would back down with honor.

Quietly getting to her feet with her eyes still to the floor she whispered. "Bai la." And swiftly turned from him and practically flew towards the door with great beauty and grace.

Ranma watched as the door that Shampoo left through closed softly behind her, he heard Ryouga come up behind him. Ranma wrung his hands together. "Do you think she'll be all right?"

Ryouga nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Shampoo is pretty tough."

Looking over his shoulder, Ranma would make a request. "Do you think you could keep an eye on her for awhile?"

Shrugging, Ryouga really didn't have much to do anymore, except his travels. But now there was no Akane to come back to. He could pretty much go anywhere he wanted now, his love for Akane was the only thing that kept him returning to Nermia to defeat Ranma and of course his no sense of direction, but that is beside the point. He'd given up on the grudge he had held about middle school long ago. It was all for Akane in the end and now that she was no longer here, he felt a certain loss and he needed a purpose. "I guess I could check on her a couple times."

A knock at the door is what alerted the boys, the handle turned and the door creaked open. A wedding attendant poked his head in. "Mr. Saotome, it's time." He smiled and then pulled his head out of the room.

Straightening his suit, Ranma turned to Ryouga. "Well this is it, my old life is just about over, time to head into the future I s'pose." He was a bit unsure and shouldn't he be excited about this? After all Ukyou is one of his best friends and she's been behaving more like a girl and even wearing girl's clothing over the past year. Yes he should be happy, this should be one of the happiest days of his life, in the back of his mind it was softly chanting'…it should have been Akane…' over and over again.

No, it was time to move on. If Akane could move on with her life so easily then so could he, she didn't even try to contact him in the past few months. He was done with her all right. With his confidence full on what future lies ahead for him even if he had not gotten rid of that stupid curse, he was still a man and it was time to face responsibility. Ranma then took the first steps towards his new life.

Akane stood on the back porch of the Malibu mansion that she shared with three other people, her forehead was covered in sweat as she lifted the towel around her neck and dabbed at the wetness, she picked up her water bottle off the patio table and took a long drink. She just finished with her morning jog, the scent of the sea was very comforting and she felt completely at ease. Akane had taken her run along the beach and it was pure heaven, much different than it was back in Nermia.

After taking her last drink from her bottle, she headed towards the sliding glass door that led back inside. Slipping off her shoes, Akane then slid the door open and stepped inside onto the Spanish tile flooring of the kitchen, placing her running shoes in the small box that she had put there, just for that purpose. She noticed that her housemates were in the middle of breakfast, on Cameron's plate was a stack of waffles that he had popped in the toaster, Gloria was picking through a fruit salad of strawberries, bananas and grapes.

"Good morning." Akane started walking past them to get her own breakfast.

Cameron looked at his watch noticing it was now only seven twenty. "Akane, why do you get up so early?"

Akane poured herself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, a cereal that she enjoyed. "I'm always up early." She grabbed the non fat milk from the refrigerator and poured some in her bowl, then going into a drawer and getting a spoon, heading to the table.

"Man, I just got up ten minutes ago because I gotta be at work at eight." Cameron shoved a forkful of his waffles in his mouth. He was not very happy since he was still working at that electronics store while he was waiting for his big break. "Doob ou habe furp ooday 'oo, 'kane?" he asked with his mouth full which in turn reminded her of Ranma's bad table manners. She cleared her throat her posture slumped.

She nodded having spooned some of the Cheerios into her mouth. "Yeah, I have the lunch shift at Miyuki's all week, which I like because it's less busy than dinner." She stirred the round shaped oats in her bowl. "But I also have an audition at nine this morning for an actual big budgeted film." She took a deep breath. "I think the film is going to be called Wedding Bell Blues, the role I am trying for is the main character's best friend, who only has about twenty five minutes all together on screen. But its more time than the thirty seconds to the two minutes that I get during commercials, and I'm very nervous. "

Gloria lifted her head, a piece of banana was hanging off her fork. "What have you got to be nervous about? You'll do fine."

"I wish I could believe that," She spooned the rest of her cereal into her mouth. "What if they don't like me? What if they say, hey kid you have no talent go back where you came from. What if I came out here all for nothing?" Akane sat back in her chair.

"Hey now, you've been in at least three commercials and I thought you were great in them." Gloria hoped she was being encouraging, it was true Akane seemed to have a talent that most people only wished they had. "Look at it this way, you've only been here three months." A smirk curved against Gloria's lips. "It's not like you've been here oh lets say two years or anything."

Cameron rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, rub it in why don't ya." Officially ignoring Gloria now, he shifted in his chair, turning his body in a slant. "I wouldn't worry too much about it Akane, you'll be great. And if they don't like your audition, that's their problem." He added with a confident nod of his head.

"Besides," Gloria stuck that piece of banana in her mouth. "If you don't get the part, 'Better-Luck-Next-Time sundaes are on me." She said with a grin.

Akane couldn't help the tiny smile that curved against her lips as she nodded her head. "All right," Standing from the table and moving quickly to the sink placing her bowl in it, she turned to her housemates. "Well I better go have a shower and prepare myself for my audition." And she left the kitchen.

On her way to her room, she was being passed in the hall by her final housemate, Larry (Blue) Carter, he was slim and tall, a good looking guy, his hair was dark blue hence the nick name Blue, he was on a cell phone and his flamboyant tone was ringing in Akane's ear.

"Of course how could I not forgive him after all we had been dating for over a year, he promised not to be late again." He turned and smiled at Akane who nodded her head in response passing him going into her room. While heading towards the closet to get out something to wear for her audition, she passed her oak dresser with five drawers.

Sitting on her dresser was that invitation her family sent her, she glared down at the white paper with gold trim and the Japanese kanji writing. She was conned into giving her father her address, and she just knew that they were rubbing it in her face that her ex-fiancé, Ranma was marrying someone else. Akane always figured he would, he had always preferred the other girls to herself anyway. Not being able to help her still curiosity over the paper, she picked up the invitation. The date of the wedding had already passed. Yesterday, and on the side of the world where Japan was they were a day ahead of her.

When she had called home a couple of times, she had at least hoped he would have tried to get in contact with her to even see if she was all right and safe, but he didn't even try. Not at all. Akane had secretly wished that she would have heard his voice in the background asking which ever sister she was talking to at the time to let him to talk to her. Even if she told her family not to tell him, she always knew Ranma was one that would break the rules if it was something he wanted. And even if she told him in that very first note she left not to come after her, he might have done it. But he didn't. He was probably so pleased that she had left that she could picture him skipping through the streets of Nermia singing: 'No More Akane, No More Akane.'

Akane sat on the edge of her bed, taking a deep breath. Ranma had moved really quickly in acquiring a new fiancé and just knowing that it had only been in three months hurt, the mere idea of it caused a tightening around her heart that she was so easily replaced. Feeling something wet trickling down her cheeks, Akane lifted her fingers and lightly touched her face, pulling it back she noticed that there were tears glistening on her finger tips, she hadn't even realized she had been crying. She closed her eyes tight, her fist clinching hard. She was mad, upset with herself. What was she doing, why was she crying? This was ridiculous, it was all Ranma's fault! She was crying over him, the stupid jerk!

She had no time for this; Akane had a very busy morning. She should be worrying over her audition and over not some stupid guy back home. Wiping her eyes with the back of her fist she stood, she needed to get ready and stop thinking about Ranma, he was in her past now, damn her family for sending her that blasted invitation. She wanted to get away and forget all about him and here her family was just making her situation even worse. While grabbing her towel she headed for the shower to think on her audition instead of her family and Ranma back in Tokyo.

Akane paced back and forth in the Warner Brothers' casting department, there were four other people behind her, she was next. So nervous and she tried taking several deep breaths, but that did nothing to still her rapid beating heart, it felt like it was about to jump out of her chest. Hearing someone snicker at her she turned her head sharply towards the sound, ready to give that person a piece of her mind, a rather large piece.

Her heart nearly stopped at just who she was looking at, eyes wide in disbelief… He was tall, blonde with wisps of brown in his hair, with the most amazing intense green eyes she had ever seen, it was him, Austin James. She just about melted right there on the spot. What was he doing here at an audition? already a well established not to mention very famous actor, she remembered going to many of his movies which they had dubbed with Japanese voice actors, she often purchased the videos that had a choice between English dub and subtitles and Japanese voice actors.

She then remembered that he was the one that was snickering at her and her anger hit her again at full force, and she was really going to give him what for. Akane's eyes narrowed in bitterness. "Hey, just cause you're some big shot, doesn't give you the right to poke fun at me."

'Whoa, she's got one fiery temper.' He thought to himself with a smile. "Sorry, I wasn't really laughing at you, I was sort of remembering my first auditions, how the nerves get to you and you can't breathe." He saw her face soften in understanding, Austin knew that she knew exactly what he was talking about. "And now it's a lot different for me, auditions are a breeze now, that's what I was snickering at."

Blinking, Akane nodded. "Oh…" Her mind was squealing. 'Oh great I just yelled at a huge star, way to make a good impression Akane.' She thought to herself and cringed slightly while turning around facing the other direction, in the back ground she heard more noise and people talking, the room was filling up with more soon to be and wannabe actors.

"You're probably thinking that they won't like you." Austin continued to say as he watched the young girl's uneasiness, he could tell she was rigid and stiff, anyone looking at her will be able to tell just how nervous she was. "Now here is a tip from someone who's been around the block a few times, go in there like you own the world, you can't show weakness, producers and casting directors can smell fear, they are like wild animals. Just waiting to rip you to shreds."

"Oh that really makes me feel a whole lot better." Akane commented snidely while looking over her shoulder at him.

Austin smiled, trying to hold back a chuckle. "I was just trying to help." He lifted his hands defensively.

Rolling her eyes, Akane groaned. "Ah yes well thank you very much for your wonderful help." She said with pure sarcasm. "I think I can do fine on my own without your help." What Akane didn't realize was that this huge famous star was actually helping her, by taking her mind off her impending audition was a good tactic. "May I ask you something?"

He nodded. "Go ahead."

"Being who you are…" Akane started easy, she didn't want to offend him anymore than she probably already had. "Why are you waiting here in the waiting room, I would think the big wigs of the movie industry would be climbing up the walls to do everything they could to secure you in one of their films."

Shrugging gently, Austin answered. "It's simple really, I just came to see who were all auditioning for this film, and my agent said that Mike Crowley was up for the same role I am too, so I came to stake out the competition. I don't see him anywhere in here though." This girl was surprisingly easy to talk to, except for the automatic anger she flared in his direction when he first decided on talking to her, hoping to ease her nerves. Perhaps he should have expected that as he started with a snicker, anyone could have taken that the wrong way. He knew exactly what it was like being in her position five years ago, being in awkward positions and letting every whisper get to him. "Say, what's your name?"

She was about to answer when the door opened and a woman holding a clipboard stepped out. "Akane Tendou." She called out pleasantly, and the girl who stood before Austin jolted a bit.

"Well that's me."

"Break a leg." He winked and he saw her take a deep breath.

Nodding a bit uncomfortably, she straightened her light blue skirt and took the steps towards the office where she would perform her scene for her audition.

Well that is it for episode 3, I hope everyone enjoyed it. Reviews are always appreciated.

Ryoko Blue