Ryoga knelt on the cold, damp earth, facing his greatest obstacle yet. All the techniques in the world couldn't beat it, and the longer he sat there, facing the cold, black granite that now held his rival's name, the angrier Ryoga seemed to get. 'Ironic,' Ryoga smirked to himself in disgust. 'I have a technique that can turn mountains into craters, and yet this four inch chunk of rock could take me to my knees…' He had hardly left Ranma's headstone since he had learned of his fate, nearly a month, no, a month and a half ago now. The news had shattered him, and yet, it only seemed to make him hate Ranma even more!

"Aaauuugh..! Ranma! How dare you hurt Akane like that!" He suddenly jumped to his feet, pointing accusingly at the headstone and baring his fangs furiously. "Leaving her like that for all those years, and then turning up dead?!" Ryoga's nostrils flared as his burning battle aura flared dangerously, tears pricking at his eyes as he could almost see Ranma in front of him, sticking out his tongue and pulling his lower eyelid like he did when he mocked him. "H-how dare you?! You ran away from a man to man fight! You ran… To the one place I couldn't follow..!" He collapsed to his knees again, limply allowing his head to fall back to look up at the sky.

A single drop of rain hit him square in his brow, as if the sky itself were mocking him. He chuckled darkly, a pale, sickly green aura seeping into his battle aura slightly. "Not for lack of trying, of course…" He sighed as he sat back, waiting for the sudden downpour, for his transformation into a pig. He wouldn't fight. How could he? His greatest fight was beyond his reach now, and he hoped that it wouldn't be too long before he could pound Ranma through the afterlife for all eternity. "I'll see you soon Ranma, just you wait…" Ryoga suddenly let out a loud grunt of pain as he was, just as suddenly, punched clean in the jaw, sending him sprawling a good fifteen feet or so. He blinked in surprise and pain, shooting up from the ground and balling his fists, looking around for his attacker. "Who goes there?! This is private property!" He snarled angrily. 'I mean, it's someone else's, but it's still private.' He thought to himself, as his eyes finally focused on the heavily breathing, enraged face of Akane, her fist still jutting out from when she had punched him. "A-Akane?!" He stammered, eyes wide as he took in the fact that it had been she who had struck him. "W-what are you..?"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" She screamed at him, a manic look in her eyes as she heaved and shook with anger. "D-dare what?!" He stammered and backed up a little as she quickly closed the gap between them, grabbing him by his shirt and cocking her fist back to prepare another strike. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THOSE WORDS! DON'T YOU DARE KILL YOURSELF!" She screamed at him, her face flushed deep red with fury as she cracked her knuckles. She didn't swing again though. Yet. "A-Akane, I..-" Ryoga stuttered and held his hands up in surrender. It didn't occur to him at that moment that Akane, while still stronger than most of Nermia's Wrecking Crew, wouldn't be much of a match if he were to put up a fight. But in that moment, all Ryoga felt was deep shame, and regret at seeing Akane's face and heart so twisted in grief and rage. Akane seemed to sense this as well and promptly let him go, pushing herself away from him and turning away, sniffling quietly and rubbing her eyes with her palms. "I'm sorry Akane… I didn't mean I was going to kill myself, I just meant… You know, the next time we see each other..?" He explained sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as Akane walked back over to Ranma's headstone quietly.

He slowly followed her, watching as she knelt down where he had been previously. He knelt down with her, but politely gave her a couple feet of space so she could have her time to grieve. It had been like this every day, but Ryoga usually made sure he was hidden damned well hidden when the Tendo's or Saotome's came to visit Ranma. Akane usually gave him plenty of warning with her soft crying, but today he had been so caught up in his own emotions that she had snuck right up to him. After a few minutes Akane looked up, letting out a deep, slow breath. She shivered slightly, looking back at Ryoga with her deep, sad eyes, and he could feel his heart ache for her, pained to see her so sullen. "Ryoga…" Akane started, biting her lip guiltily as she very carefully thought out her words. She'd been doing that a lot recently, refusing to speak until she had surgically thought out her words. "It's been three years, today. And almost two months since we learned he was…" She nodded slightly at the headstone. "So, why now..? You've been back from your training trip for almost a month. Why did you wait so long to… To come see him..?"

Ryoga grimaced at the slightly accusatory tone in her question, but he sighed and thought for a moment before speaking. "Because… I'm a coward." He muttered. She looked at him in shock, but could tell he wasn't finished talking, so she stayed quiet. "All this time, I've been looking for him. You know my sense of direction is bad," She snorted quietly, and he gave her a small grin. "Okay, nonexistent. But, for the last three years, I was tracking him. I was always a few steps behind him it seemed. Hell, once I'd gotten so close the person I asked told me I had missed him by two hours." Ryoga snarled bitterly, and Akane finally turned her body to face him, nodding for him to continue, with her undivided attention. "I was so close… If I'd been a little faster, maybe, or been able to follow the road the man had told me he had gone, Ranma would still be here." He let out a surprised gasp as Akane's hand struck his cheek. She hadn't slapped him nearly as hard as she had punched him, but it pained him so much more. "Don't. Don't you dare. It wasn't your fault, it never was." Akane growled, fresh tears escaping the corners of her eyes. "It was my fault. It was always my fault, from the moment that tiny redhead entered my life, I made Ranma's life hell."

She whimpered, the toxic self loathing she carried for her actions bubbling inside her, so potent it made Ryoga shiver. "I've been thinking so much of all those times. Every moment I called him a pervert, or belittled him, or jumped to conclusions. I was always wrong wasn't I..?" Ryoga thought this was a loaded question, and kept his big mouth shut for once. "He never did anything perverted for his own sake. It was just, bad timing, and me jumping to conclusions," Akane swiped her palms across her cheeks to chase away the tears that were once more racing to her chin. "I wish… I wish I had never hit him. Or called him names." Ryoga nodded, knowing exactly how she felt. He blamed every strife in his life on Ranma, and almost none of it was true. He had spent a lot of time reflecting on his past actions while he sat with Ranma's headstone, and regretted every moment that Ranma had tried to be his friend, only for Ryoga to spit in his face. "I don't think anyone ever really treated him right…" Ryoga said softly. Akane nodded and scoot closer to him, leaning against his shoulder and letting out a shaky sigh. "I miss him, so much." She admitted. Ryoga nodded and leaned with her, his eyes as usual unable to meet hers as he stared regretfully at Ranma's name. "Me too Akane. Me too."