Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers.

Changed Overnight

Chapter Seven: Letting Go

Akane hurried back to the dojo to apologize to Ranma, to tell him the she really has been too proud… She didn't care what street she took, or whoever she would meet – may it be Heath Ledger – but her instincts kept telling her to go to Ranma before it was too late. Yes, he'd been chasing her, but the tone of his voice a moment ago told her that he was giving up when Akane had hopelessly stuck to her twisted thinking.

Her eyes had been opened. The doubts in her heart were gone. She wanted Ranma now. She didn't even think about Ryouga, or the stupid deals she made with the insane trio of Ranma's other fiancées.

This time she wasn't messing it up.

"Ahahahahah!" the mad laugh of Kodachi rang from somewhere. It took Akane a while to realize that she was passing by the street of the Kunos' manor.

"Oh, jeez…" Akane muttered as she skidded into a halt. "Hi," she greeted Kodachi.

The gymnast landed on her two feet, twirling around her sticks and knickknacks. "So, Akane Tendo," she went as she started circling Akane like a shark focusing on its prey. "Do you remember what we just had?"

"A fight?" Akane asked in a bored voice.

"No, Miss Tendo. We had a deal. About Ranma."

Of course Akane remembered. The moment she explained everything to Ranma upon having changed her insight, she planned to break it with the three ladies. "Oh, yeah, the deal."

"Remember?"

"Yes, I do," Akane said as she sprinted away. "By the way, it's off!"

"Ahahahahahahah!" Kodachi's laugh followed her.

And she's still laughing? Crazed baka!

Kodachi landed right in front of her. "What do you want now?" Akane asked, annoyed.

"I want Ranma-sama," Kodachi answered curtly. She took out her whip and tried to hit Akane with it, but the martial artist was fast.

Akane realized that she was wearing a powder blue summer dress, and guess what? Stilettos. Yes, she was going to have to fight with those stilettos on. Boy, this is going to be hard, Akane thought, making a mental note to slip her feet into the right shoes (before running away from a particularly dramatic scene in her life), maybe have a separate shoe rack as not to mix her comfy footwear with Nabiki's sophisticated ones.

A couple of times Kodachi tried to lash Akane's skin, with her matching laugh of course, to no avail. She threw away her whip and balled her hands into fists. "Let's just do this woman-to-woman, shall we?"

"No problem!" Akane exclaimed as she successfully landed a punch on Kodachi's stomach after Kodachi actually leaped towards her. "Black Rose," she said as Kodachi fell to the ground, "laughter may not be the best medicine this time."

"Tendo Akane!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!"

"Fret not, for I, Tatewaki Kuno,the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, am here to save thee from my despicable sister!" Kuno ran towards Akane, only to be met by the two-inch heel of her stiletto.

"You're just as despicable as her."

"What about the kiss that the two of us shared with our looooooooove…?"

He flew away to Neverland after that kick.

"What kiss?" Akane yelled after him. "Kami-sama, I am going to worship you everyday if you won't let these people bug me again…"

As if energized by the attack of the crazy Kunos, she ran even faster to the dojo. She couldn't wait to tell Ranma everything!

"Ranma!" Akane called as she slammed the door to her house open. "Ranma, I'm sorry!" She looked in the kitchen, the dining room, the bathroom – everywhere. He wasn't there.

"Ranma, where are you?" Akane was shouting frantically as she looked inside the dojo. "R-Ranma…"

She went outside the vicinity of the dojo and proceeded to Ucchan's, but it was closed. She even peeked inside but saw nobody.

Then it struck her.

Where else would Ranma hang out if Ucchan's was not open?

Cat Restaurant. The place that she detested to visit.

With every ounce of determination she had, Akane went to Shampoo's place – and she was right. Ranma was there, eating a bowl of noodles. And he didn't look upset, until he saw her. His face scrunched into a frown.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

Oh, okay, Akane thought. Now he's mad.

"I… I wanted to apologize."

"Get out," he said sternly.

Akane froze. She couldn't believe he just said that. Did he really?

"What did you say?" she asked, hoping that what she heard was just a figment of her imagination.

"I said, get out. Now you're deaf, too?" he snapped, then smirked. Shampoo was just by the counter, observing the scene, a malicious smile painted on her lips.

"No!" Akane cried. "So now it's back to square one? Ranma, look, I'm sorry. I… I have been so narrow-minded before. I'm sorry for being the baka that you've always called me. I'm sorry for being such a bad… such a bad fiancé, and… I-I'm just really, really sorry."

Her eyes had every trace of sincerity and remorse. And this time, she was sure it was going to be okay. She was sure that Ranma would forgive her, because he always did. Ranma would forgive her and they would live happily ever after. It would be a happy ending.

Right?

"Well… I'm sorry, too," Ranma said.

She knew it!

"Really?" Akane's eyes lit up like two beautiful candles, each with hope sparkling in it.

"Yes. I'm sorry because I can't forgive you."

"What?" No way. No way had she heard it right. She was hearing the wrong things. Ranma can never, ever say that to her. She was Akane! Ranma can never not forgive Akane.

"Get this straight, okay?" Ranma talked slowly, like he had difficulty speaking in straight Japanese. Akane thought that maybe it was hard for him to say all those harsh words to her, but she figured that he just wanted to emphasize them. "I don't want anything to do with you. You're just a silly little… hentai… a barbarian who doesn't know how to cook, who'd kill anybody out of instinct! You're a kawaiikune… baka… you've always been, and you will always be. Ra–… I mean, I could never possibly love you! And I never did, got that?"

There was a silent moment of nerves. Shampoo didn't say anything. And nor did Akane, for a few seconds. She kept staring at Ranma. No, this guy wasn't Ranma, he was… someone else. This can't be happening!

But of course, something told her that the guy really was Ranma. Wasn't he the one who broke her heart countless of times before? Of course he could do it again anytime. He just did it now.

Thus, Akane's heart was broken again.

But not without letting him know her pain, her fury, her sorrow.

"DAMN YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed, then slapped Ranma hard on his cheek.

"Hentai-girl! I kill!"

Akane didn't even process what Ranma just said to her. She ran out of the restaurant. She found herself running like she did a while ago when she wanted to tell Ranma how she really felt about him, that she loved him.

But not now. She hated him with all her body, mind, soul… and heart.

Funny how the world changes fast, right?

Not.

She kept running. This time, not to the dojo. Not anywhere, actually. She just ran for her dear life. Because if she stopped running, she was sure her heart would stop beating. Then she would die, like any other girl who had her heart broken because the guy she loved had made breaking her heart a hobby.

After Akane's slap, Ranma's face deformed – literally. His cheek almost stuck to his forehead.

"Grandmother, it hurt!"

"Yes, Shampoo. That human plaster I got from China worked, but it is really sensitive. That's why I told you not to touch your face."

"But it hurt!"

"Don't worry. It's all worth it."

Cologne drank some water – and guess what? Her body of the tall Shampoo shrank into her normal old ghoul size. 'Ranma' drank some water too and transformed into Shampoo.

"Hentai-girl pay. Shampoo mad!"

"Well, it's up to you. But I feel sorry for the girl – if I were you I'll just let her go. She just lost Ranma to you."

"Yes, that true. But hentai-girl still pay."

Akane found herself sobbing her heart out on the same bench she ran away from a while ago in the park.

Where is that voice when I need it?

She knew she was not making sense, wanting to talk to some voice that she didn't even know truly existed. But on the other hand, she figured that nothing made sense anymore – and it was all because of Ranma. If he never came into her life, she wouldn't be as miserable as she is now! She wouldn't have had her heart broken! She wouldn't have felt so guilty, then feel that she was the victim!

Oh, how she hated him.

But hate wasn't the emotion that stood up from all the others. She felt… unhappy. She was lonely, alone and helpless. All she did was cry her heart out on the bench, her face buried in her hands. She didn't even care about – or notice, at that – the good people passing by who tried to talk to her and stop her from crying.

Then she felt a hand slowly crawl behind her shoulders. It embraced her. She snuggled up; she had no willpower to say no. And the person's chest felt warm, too…

Despite her hatred, despite how hurt she was, the first word that came out of her mouth was, "Ranma…"

The person embracing her froze.

A millisecond later, she didn't feel the embrace anymore. Akane didn't see anybody when she looked up. She only heard something being hit by the jet of the water sprinkler, then a "Bwee!"

P-chan ran away.

"That's it! You know what you are, Akane? You're selfish! You think about yourself, and nobody else – all you care about is how you feel and how much you've been hurt. You always convince yourself that the hurt will never go away your whole life while I am trying more than my best to get you to change that mentality! That's what you are – SELFISH!"

The words he said to the girl he loved more than anyone in his life echoed in his head.

Yes, they were harsh. They were so hard that Ranma thought he hurt himself more with saying it than Akane was. But Akane needed that – something to pull her into the reality that she is not a saint, and that she's made terrible mistakes, too.

Yes, he had been so hurtful, he couldn't deny it. But Akane was human, and that's why she makes mistakes. She easily gets mad with her short temper. She easily assumes. She acts on impulse. Human flaws.

Then Ranma understood the quote of some historic someone that "Flawed is perfect."

Long has he desired to be finally together with that kawaii little lady, so full of passion and, well, innocence. She always wanted to show that she knew everything, but she's actually a little child in his eyes despite the fact that they were the same age and that sometimes she even acts older than he does. That's why he needed to protect her all the time. But he can't always do it forever, because when there is a beginning, there is an end.

His life in Nerima began with a huge dagger that stabbed his life – he was engaged to this tomboy who was such a baka in everything she did. She was the youngest of three daughters of Soun Tendo, owner of the Tendo Dojo. Yes, she was… somewhat pretty when he first saw her. But her attitude turned out to be too extreme. She was tremendously short-tempered and proud.

Ranma never thought the time would come that he'd fall for Akane. But he did. He fell so badly that it ate his heart out. All day, all night, all he could ever think of was her. He always insisted to everybody that he was totally focused on martial arts, and that Akane was an evil advocate of a horrible cooking demon.

He always kept his guard up against accusations of being too soft and weak. What he did was become cynical in everything related with Akane. He had every bone and nerve in his body dedicated to offending Akane to prevent everybody from knowing he had fallen in love with her (That's what I get from having been separated from civilization my whole childhood – a crooked way of thinking). But of course, as her fiancé, he had to protect and save her when she got in trouble – which happened very often on account of her being very hard-headed and all. Those were the times that he could show how he loved this girl, and sometimes he even forgot he was supposed to be mocking her. He couldn't help showing that she was the most important person for him on the face of the mad earth.

In the past, he's tried to hide his feelings. Then he started showing them. Then Ryouga came at the wrong time. Then he finally revealed what he felt and got into a lot of trouble for it.

And now he was letting her go.

People would actually cry when they hear my story.

Cry when they start thinking about how pathetic I am, doing this. Letting go of Akane, I mean. We've been fiancées for almost a year. We've been together through good or bad, through happy times and sad times, through anger and peace. I bore with her, she bore with me. Kind of like a married couple, really.

Then she gave up.

She turned her back on me and took another road – one that led to Ryouga. And she was happy. Or at least, she obviously convinced herself to be. All because of me, because I've hurt her so many times. I knew she was pretending. I told her so, but she wouldn't admit it! She was even angry with me, and I don't blame her; she has the right to because I've been such a jerk. Sometimes I feel the same – she could really be an idiot most of the time. But no matter how I try, I find myself thinking I'm the real baka. It's–

"OOOWW!" Ranma shouted in pain. A coconut fell out of nowhere onto his head. "Kami-sama, where the heck did that come from?" He massaged his head and looked above him. It was just impossible; he was sitting on the fence in the far side of the park and there were no trees above him!

Then it hit him.

LET GO OF HER. She'll be free, you'll be free, and you might as well have erased your signature in the invisible engagement contract the day you didn't oppose when Akane told you she was going to tell their parents that the engagement was broken.

It only took a coconut.

Again, he didn't know that Soun and Genma didn't give their consent to Akane's motion to break the engagement. Yes, Akane was assuming… but it was much later on that he realized that he was, too.

Akane headed back to her house and locked herself in her room.

Fate is really underhanded. Conniving. Dastardly. Why do these things happen to love stories all the time, anyway? Boy meets Girl. Girl shows she hates Boy. So Boy hates Girl, too. Then Girl meets Guy. Boy gets jealous and tells Girl he loves her. Girl shows she hates him still, but deep inside she loves him already. When Guy gets out of the scene, Girl realizes she really loves Boy and tells him so, only to be faced by rejection because she's too late.

"When you say you love me

The world goes still, so still inside and

When you say you love me

For a moment, there's no one else alive…"

Akane began to cry after singing her song with a shaky voice.

Someone knocked at the door. "Akane?" called the voice of Kasumi. "May I come in?"

Akane wiped her tears. "Uhm… yeah, sure." She unlocked the door, quickly went back to her bed and got hold of the nearest book she could find.

Kasumi went in and closed the door behind her. "Hey," she greeted, sitting beside her sister on the bed. "I just got back from the market. I heard someone sniffing from up here."

"It's nothing," Akane smiled. Then her nose dripped, so she had to sniff.

Kasumi smiled back at her littler sister and put her hand on her shoulder. "Akane, when you were little, you were always such a sweet girl."

Akane sniffed again.

"And you still are. When you were little, you were always happy. When you had problems, you would tell them to me, and then you would cry. Then I'd tell you it's going to be all right, and you go confront your problem. You always had the courage and will to make everything okay, that's why you rarely had sad moments in your childhood."

Akane felt her tears threatening to fall. That was before. Now I don't even want to think about confronting my problem. I just did that, and look what it did to me…

"Now please, tell me. I know when something's wrong."

Kasumi's voice was soothing. Whenever she talked to Akane, Akane would always feel everything was going to be okay. Her oldest sister's voice was like heaven.

"Kasumi onee-chan, I don't know what to do anymore," Akane started. "I've always thought that everything would be the same between Ranma and me – the way we always quarrelled about senseless things. I even started to think that this relationship with him is okay, because there's always constant communication, right? And even though there are times that we're really, really, angry with each other, everything would be all right because somehow he finds a way for me to stop getting mad. But this time, I don't think everything can ever be okay between the two of us…"

"Why?"

"I've been so cruel to him. And I even got together with… w-with Ryouga! Now that he's gone, I realize I don't really love him after all, and it was all a joke played by Fate. Ranma told me that I'm not really in love with Ryouga, and I denied it. Turns out he was right, and that happened to be the time that some advocate of Kami-sama – a voice – told me that I love Ranma, after all. All the false acts I've made in the past with Kuno, all the deals with Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi… I never should have done them! Now it's too late… when I tried to talk to Ranma, he was angry with me. And I can't blame him because I've been such a… a… oh, Kasumi onee-chan!"

Akane sobbed profoundly as Kasumi embraced her. "Akane-chan, don't cry… Ranma's like that sometimes. He could be really proud when he wants to, because humans are like that. Don't worry, he'll apologize soon. Hush now…"

As Akane felt Kasumi's hands comforting her, something dawned upon her that made her situation seem much hopeless.

Kasumi, for the first time, you're wrong…

There was a flash of lightning in the six o'clock sky, then a rumble of thunder.

"Aw, man!" Ranma hurried to the nearest tree he could find. "Kami…" He couldn't do anything. He was wet. And he tried so hard for weeks not to be hit by cold water! He was now a she – a she with flaming red hair and a squat but well-formed body. She sighed hopelessly. "Well, it's no use being a guy, anyway."

"Wo da airen!" the shrill voice of Shampoo rang from a few yards away, together with the ring from the bell of her bicycle. She was holding an umbrella and stopped right in front of the tree where Ranma ran under. "Shampoo come pick airen up!"

"Where are we going?"

"Cat Restaurant! Grandma cook ramen. You want? Hurry, it rain!"

Ranma decided it wouldn't hurt to eat free food especially when she's just had a bombardment of bitter reality, so she came along with Shampoo.

After the ten-minute ride via bicycle in maximum speed (Shampoo had been, for some reason, in a hurry), they reached Cat Restaurant. Ranma staggered inside, dizzy.

"Oh, son-in-law, you're finally here," Cologne said, ushering the redhead onto the table where a hot bowl of ramen was waiting.

Ranma sat down and began to eat, all the while suspecting that Cologne had another plan to drug her or something equally heinous. But she was really, really hungry, especially with the fact that all she ever ate were some badly made cookies.

Cologne was watching her with wide, unblinking eyes that were so creepy. Shampoo, too, was looking at her interestedly from behind the counter she was leaning on.

"Oi, stop that!"

Cologne never blinked. "Akane was here a while ago."

"I don't care, just stop– …Akane?" Hearing the name Akane still had an effect on Ranma, which meant she wasn't quite over Akane yet. She had to know what Akane did here.

"Yes. She came barging in here and shouting your name."

"Why?" Ranma clung to every word the old hag said.

"She was really angry. She said she hated you. Then she ran away, probably to go look for you somewhere else."

It took Ranma a few seconds to realize it. Then she chuckled. "You know I would never fall for that." Really! What were these people thinking, that they could fool her? How stupid of them.

Cologne took out a tape recorder. And out played an unmistakable voice that was Akane's.

"DAMN YOU, RANMA!"

There was a sound of a slap, then the slamming of the door.

Cologne stopped playing the tape and looked at a speechless Ranma with a smile threatening to form on her lips. But the old woman stopped it, and said, "There, there."

Without a word, Ranma sat back down and finished her ramen as Shampoo and Cologne exchanged looks. "Gochiso-sama. Arigato." Then she went out of the door in the open rain and walked home alone in the dark streets.

"What do you think?" Cologne asked her granddaughter.

"I think have Ranma to myself now," Shampoo said.

"What about those other two girls?"

"They no problem."

Cologne nodded. She was proud of herself for cooking up this ingenious scheme. And she was proud of her granddaughter. Everything was going her way.

"Now come on, we'll cook dinner downstairs," Kasumi offered.

"Sure," Akane replied as her sister got up from the bed. "You go ahead, I'll just follow."

Kasumi went down and proceeded to the kitchen, and while walking down the stairs, she encountered someone she hasn't seen for a long time coming through the door of the house. She smiled. "Konbanwa, Ranma-chan. I see rain caught you."

Ranma nodded without a word.

The eldest Tendo proceeded to the kitchen and began preparing tonight's supper.

The redhead began walking up the stairs slowly with her eyes on the floor when she heard someone approaching from the upper floor. The sound of the footsteps stopped just above the stairs. She looked up.

Akane…

It's been a while since Akane saw the pigtailed girl. Despite the hurt she's been through just a while ago, she stood brave and walked down the stairs as if she didn't see Ranma.

And Ranma walked up the stairs and went into her room.