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The next morning, Akane overslept and missed her morning jog. She changed and came down for breakfast. The rest of the household (except Happosai, who was sleeping) was already eating, if you could call it that. Nobody seemed to be very hungry. Especially Ranma, who was just poking his food with his chopsticks. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear Akane come in. She decided to apologize now. "Ranma…" she said to get his attention.

Ranma looked at her. "What is it, you uncute tomboy? You're going to yell at me and hit me again?"

Akane felt angry, but resisted the urge to hit him. Looking back, she had been too hard on him. Again.

She sat at her place next to Ranma at the table and stared at him, not sure what to do. Ranma stared back at Akane. Then they both spoke at the same time.

"I'm sorry about yesterday."

Then they looked at each other again. More silence for a few seconds.

"It was my fault. I should have gotten things straight with the other girls before the ceremony."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have snapped on you last night. And even if you tried to straighten things out, they probably would've come anyway."

"Hey, don't forget me. I'm the one who invited them to the wedding," Nabiki said. "I messed up big time, and I'm sorry."

"Well, maybe me and Tendo pushed you guys too fast," Genma said.

Ranma brightened up. "Hey, we're all at fault here. We messed up pretty bad this time, except for you, Kasumi. You've supported all of us and always did the right thing, and for that I thank you."

There were shouts of agreement around the table from everyone. Kasumi blushed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "I just hope the next wedding goes well."

"There won't be a 'next wedding,'" Genma said.

"We decided that we shouldn't force you two to marry if you don't want to. It may lead to the destruction of the Anything Goes School if you two don't like each other," Soun added.

There were looks of astonishment on everyone's faces.

"Ranma, I release you of your arranged engagement. You may marry anyone you want to, or nobody if that's your choice," Genma declared.

Ranma was speechless for a little bit, then he smiled. "Thanks, pops."

Akane got depressed at the thought that Ranma was no longer her fiancée, and looked at him. He was looking back, with an evil grin on his face.

"I've got a few things to say to you," he said.

"Ranma, if you hurt my daughter…." Soun started.

"No…It's ok, dad. I've had this coming," Akane said.

"You've got that right," Ranma replied, grinning. He was so going to enjoy this.

Akane looked down at her food, which she had yet to touch. "I'm a tomboy. I'm violent. I can't cook," she said, recalling just a couple of the things Ranma had said to her in the past.

"You're right," Ranma said. Akane didn't look up, bracing herself mentally for more insults. "And…I wouldn't want it any other way." Ranma's hand appeared next to her food, holding a ring.

"Akane Tendo, will you marry me?"

Akane was, needless to say, surprised. The rest of the family also looked at the ring and it's bearer in shock. Nabiki was the first one to move over and look at the ring.

"Not super expensive, but it does seem to be worth a pretty penny," she said. "You should return it to help pay for the dojo repairs."

"I can't. It means too much to me. And even if I wanted to, the merchant won't accept returns once something's been engraved on it. I've been hanging on to it for a few months now." He turned to Akane again. "I don't care about family honor, or inheriting the dojo, Amazon Laws, or even Jusenkyo water. This is about me and you and nobody else."

Akane took the ring into her hand and took a close look at it. Her name and Ranma's were written in kanji on one side of the ring. The English letters "A" and "R" were on the other side. She started to cry as she realized what it meant. The ring was always meant for her and only her.

"I don't care," she said. She then wrapped her arms around Ranma and started sobbing. "I don't care if it had the worlds biggest diamond, or it were just a rubber band. It's meaning is the same and my answer is yes!"

"Well, a rubber band would have saved a bunch of money," Nabiki said.

Ranma turned to her and was about to say something back, when he was accidentally knocked down by Akane, who was standing up and looking down at her sister.

"Nabiki, this was a gift! Be nice to him!"

"Oh, like you're treating him with respect right now," she said, pointing down.

Akane then realized that she was standing on Ranma's back while arguing with her sister.

"Oh! Ranma, I'm sorry!" she said.

"Akane apologizing to Ranma? Did we miss something?" they heard a familiar voice say. Ranma shot up, causing Akane to fall off. He then realized what he did.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, looking at the newcomers nervously. Shampoo, Mousse, Cologne, Ryoga, and Ukyo were standing there. Mousse was the one who had spoken.

Ranma instantly put an arm defensively in front of Akane.

"What do you want?" he asked them in a distrusting tone.

"Ranma, we're here to apologize," Ukyo said. "I know now you which fiancée you want to be with, and it's not me. But I hope we can still be friends."

Ranma noticed that it looked like she'd been crying. Shampoo also. He felt guilty, but knew that someone's heart being broken was unavoidable.

"We overheard you proposing. Looks like Shampoo, Kodachi, and myself are out of the running."

"Let me get one thing straight. Kodachi was never in the running," Ranma said, shuddering at the thought of being married to such a crazy loon.

"Shampoo sorry, too. Shampoo realize this and cry. Mousse comfort Shampoo in time of need. Mousse nice person when need to be. Shampoo…Shampoo love Mousse now."

"Ranma, we've been rivals, but I can't blame you for my problems. It's not like you held a knife to my neck and forced me to go with you to China. I'm sorry and I wish the best for you and Akane."

"Why the sudden change of heart, Ryoga?" Ranma asked.

"I've had some time to think about it. Akari likes me, and I think I like her too. I was originally coming over to continue our fight, but we overheard you proposing to Akane, and that she said yes. I never stood a chance, I know that. But now, I know you won this battle. Congratulations."

"Wow, I don't know what to say…Thanks…I mean it," Ranma said.

"Unfortunately, Amazon law dictates that Mousse must beat you in a battle to become Shampoo's fiancée," Cologne said. "I'm sorry, but there's no other way, short of you dying."

Mousse then noticed something in the room. "I just thought of something. The laws don't specify what type of battle to have."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked.

"Ranma Saotome, I challenge you to a game of Shogi!"

Twenty minutes later…

"Checkmate!" Mousse said happily.

"That was luck! Best two out of three!" Ranma said, before getting hit in the back of the head by Akane.

"You idiot! Do you want to stay engaged to Shampoo!"

"Oh, right. I forgot about that." Ranma admitted, rubbing the spot Akane had hit. Surprisingly, this hit wasn't very hard.

He extended his hand to Mousse. "Good game." Mousse shook his hand.

There were shocked faces that Ranma actually admitted defeat in something. However,

Soun and Genma were still thinking about the Shogi game.

"Those were some good moves," Genma said.

"I wish I could study them in more detail…"Soun added.

"I can have that arranged," Nabiki said, holding a video camera and two tapes.

They were both before her on their knees. "How much?" they asked at the same time. Nabiki just grinned.

Shampoo wrapped her arms around Mousse. "Mousse so clever. Mousse beat Ranma!" she said, then planted the Kiss of Marriage on him.

"Yeah, but there's still a lot of damage to the dojo," Ranma said. "I wish there was a way to fix it."

"I've done some calculations. We need a lot of yen more for the repairs," Nabiki said. She held up a piece of paper, on which she had already figured out the costs.

Ranma's eyes got big when he saw the total. "Where are we going to get that much yen?" he asked.

"Are you interested in winning a lot of yen?" the television played on a commercial

Everyone turned to the T.V.

"Enter the musical band contest, and you could walk away with tons of yen!"

"A contest?" Ranma said, and saw the amount of yen on the screen that the winners got. Then he stood up. "That's it! It's enough to repair the dojo, and there's still enough to pay for a good wedding!"

Nabiki looked at the screen at the contest info. "The words 'Martial Arts' isn't in here. Do you think you can win?"

Ranma had a slight smirk on his face. "I never told anyone else this, but when I was really young, I wanted to be in a rock band, like I saw on Television. Once, we came across this guy who was playing a guitar. He showed me how to play. He even offered me one of his guitars, but my dad thought music would be too big a distraction from my training." He glanced at his father. "I think I have a chance, but…" he looked down. "I need more than a guitar to make a band."

"It shouldn't be that hard for you. You've learned martial arts moves in only a few demonstrations," Cologne said, remembering how fast Ranma picked up the Hiryu Shoten Ha.

"Well," Ryoga said. "I did also learn how to play a guitar. I'll help."

"I learned how to play the drums before I found out Shampoo was after you," Mouse said. "I'm in."

"Shampoo know how to use base guitar she found in Café when Great-Grandmother open restaurant." Shampoo said.

"Thanks, you guys," Ranma said. "Anyone else want to play?"

"Akane, what about you?" Kasumi said.

"Huh?" Akane said, looking at her questioningly.

"Remember when you and mother played on the piano when you were young? You played so well."

"I don't know, Kasumi. That was a long time ago."

"What, you're too much of a klutz to play now?" Ranma said to his fiancée.

Akane got angry. "Fine! I'll show you just how good I am, Ranma. I'll do it!"

Ranma smiled. Getting Akane to join was easy. Akane then realized she'd been tricked into joining, but she didn't say anything.

"I'd help, but I'm a cook, not a musician. Good luck, though," Ukyo said.

"I've got some connections here, so I can get the equipment you need to practice," Cologne said.

"Thanks," the new band members said.

"Let's get together after school in the gym and practice there. Nobody should be using it today," Akane said.

"I'm glad everything's worked out," Kasumi said.

Genma laughed. "Maybe if Ranma becomes famous from this, I can just sit back and let the yen come flying in."

Ranma picked up a glass of water and tossed it at his father. His father became a panda.

Akane noticed Ryoga, who had been standing right behind Genma, had jumped out of the way of the water, as if his very life depended on it.

"Ryoga, if you do stuff like that, people will think you have a curse, too!"

Most of the others sweat-dropped. Ryoga became noticeably paler.

Akane didn't miss the change of color in the lost boy. "Or…or are you cursed?"

Ryoga gulped. "I see I can't hide it anymore. Ok, Akane. Yes, I am cursed."

Ryoga, his hand shaking, picked up a glass of water and dumped it on himself. He turned into a little black pig.

In the original version, Ryoga voluntarily revealed his curse to Ryoga, something I haven't seen in any other fanfic. However, some people think that Ryoga would never be able to do that, and in retrospect, I guess I agree. So now Akane deduces that he's cursed by his actions.

I didn't specify what the amount of yen was to fix the dojo, because I don't even know how much it is to repair a dojo, even in US currency.