"What's going to happen, Akane?" Ranma asked her back quietly. "What's going to change?"

She didn't answer him.

He sighed raggedly, watched until he couldn't see her anymore. And put his face in his hands.

If I were to move on, would you let me?

How could I, if it mean that I would let you go?

Time seemed to move unbearably slow as he sat at the dining room table, trying to keep his eyes off of the clock. The minute hand finally relinquished its hold and the boy jumped as the clock began to toll twelve rings which echoed throughout the house. Idiot, idiot, idiot. She wasn't home.

"Are you still up, Ranma?" He jerked slightly as Kasumi's hand gingerly touched his shoulder.

He tried to shrug it carelessly off, but his eyes gave him away.

"She's not home, Kasumi," he said softly, not wanting to look at the girl's eyes. "Where could she be, this late?"

"She called a little while ago," she replied, walking to the refrigerator. "She's staying over a friend's house."

Ranma's shoulders slumped, and he seemed to shrink. "Kasumi ...have...have you ever done anything that you know..."

"Would hurt anyone?" Kasumi offered, reaching up to gather a small carton of ice cream well hidden in the freezer corner. Gathering two spoons from the drawers, she handed the downcast boy on as a sign of peace. "Ranma..."

"It doesn't make sense!" he blurted out, digging his spoon violently into the chocolate. "We fight all the time. She yells, I yell, then she hits me, and we both go home. End of story!"

Kasumi took her time, thoughtfully letting the ice cream melt on her tongue. "Is that so?"

Ranma was too worked up to notice or care about the slight warning tone she held. "That's the way it always is!"

Kasumi watched silently as he shoved the spoon into his mouth. "Maybe that's the problem."

Ranma paused , and put the spoon down on the table. "Eh?"

"Well, take this ice cream for example," Kasumi suggested. "You like it enough, right?"

Ranma frowned, not knowing where this was going. "Yeah."

"But say you have it day after day, night after night." Kasumi smiled. "Then something that you've liked or grown accustomed to...it just isn't appealing anymore, no?

Ranma 's frown intensified. "Akane doesn't like ice cream?"

Kasumi lifted a slim eyebrow and fought the urge to dump the carton over the pigtailed boy's empty head. Finding her patience, she continued. "What I was trying to say, Ranma, is that people get tired of things. Akane is just tired of your routine. She's tired of getting hurt."

"I...I never mean to hurt her, Kasumi."

She rose, gathering their spoons and rinsing them in the sink. "You never mean to, Ranma. But that doesn't mean that you don't. And it doesn't make it any easier to bear."

"What should I do?"

Turning around, the older girl titled her head at the boy's saddened expression. Inevitably, her heart broke a little for him. Poor baby, she mused, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into.

"I can't answer that question, Ranma," she informed him. She turned, putting the spoons into the drawer and hiding the ice cream once more. "Sometimes you have to figure out how to fix things for yourself."

She gave him a light kiss on the cheek before leaving him to his thoughts.

Ranma sighed and got up to turn off the kitchen light. Looking at the shadowed room, he bit his lip and closing his eyes, said, "What if I can't?"

What if I can't?

Akane giggled as she walked to school, her backpack bumping gaily against her knees. "Ryoga, you actually did that?"

The boy blushed and showed off his fang in a grin. "Maybe. But, hey, how was I supposed to know that the carnival was in town?"

"I would still think that slicing off the rubber nose of a clown with your bandana..."

"He freaked me out!"

She burst out laughing once more. "The nerve of him! Offering you a balloon animal!"

He scowled lightly, deciding that it was a better idea not to tell her that the balloon creature had happened to be a pig. "I have severe problems with guys who wear make-up."

Akane just shook her head and continued to walk.

"ARGH! GET OFF OF ME!"

Ryoga frowned. "Isn't that Ranma's voice?"

Akane shrugged, but the light had slipped out of her eyes. "I guess Shampoo found him."

Ryoga turned around to see the pig tailed martial artist stumble with the amazon attached to his neck. Ranma looked up to meet the look in his rival's face. Ryoga held his gaze steady, even when Ranma's expression shifted into something that Ryoga couldn't identify.

"Messed up big time, did you?" he whispered. From the look on Ranma 's face, Ryoga guessed that he was able to read his lips. He smiled, letting the feeling of triumph spread slowly throughout his body. He savored the feeling. "Well, she's mine now."

And with that, he turned to catch up with the dark haired girl, leaving Ranma alone.

"Akane!"

She turned, smile in place, to see her former fiancée run up to her. "Yes, Ranma?"

Panting slightly, he looked up and offered a crooked grin. "Um ...you didn't come home last night."

Her smile never wavered as she entered the school yard. "I was over a friend's house. Didn't Kasumi tell you?"

"Yeah, but..." But I always walk with you there. Appalled by the near slip of the tongue, Ranma fell into silence. Akane gave him an odd look.

"But what, Ranma?"

Ranma opened his mouth to respond, but closed it on a groan as Ukyo bounced up next to him, chattering gaily about something or other.

"Ran-chan, I made lunch for you!"

"That's nice," he told her absently, bracing for the mallet he would no doubt find himself on the other end of. "Akane, its not..."

She cut him off gently, chuckling. "It's all right, Ranma. I'll see you in class."

Speechless, both Ukyo and Ranma watched the petit girl saunter into the classroom.

"What was that?" Ukyo asked him, her eyes questioning. "Did you and Akane...?"

Ranma forced a sad parody of his cheeky grin and shrugged, "Nah. She's just being Akane."

But even as Ukyo nodded in satisfaction and tugged his arm to get him to class, Ranma couldn't help thinking.

Something wasn't right. It wasn't the same. What was wrong?

"Sometimes you have to figure out how to fix things for yourself." Kasumi had told him.

But he had no idea how to even begin.

If I loved you, would you take me?

Would I know how to?