Friendship

Graduation! Finally! No more High School, no more crazy principal and no more dumb Kuno. This is great. I whistle happily while walking on the fence.

No Akane today.

Not so great.

But I'll see her at home so no real problem there. I just have to wait and be patient now. Soon I'll be over eighteen and I'm finally getting why pops wanted to stay at the Tendou's even though the engagement was over. Akane and I are getting along better than ever. We talk and all… last monday she even said we were friends. Like real friends… but something tells me, maybe we could be more.

Yeah… I think I'm ready for all that stuff. Ray help has been great. Now I'm a lot more open about the girlfriend thing. She made me realize that Akane and I didn't get along before because of the engagement. It was too much pression on us. But now things are different.

Yeah… the future seems very promising.

Part II

I left school earlier than usual. Graduation it's just two days away and I have a load of things to do before everything is over. Besides I got to get home before Ranma does. It's mail day and I'm waiting a very important letter. I definitely don't want to risk him seeing it before I do. Yes, I know I should have already told him the thing about college… but it's been hard. So hard I haven't told anyone yet. Not even daddy.

So today I'm walking home alone and I'm surprised at how much I'm missing Ranma's company. I realize that walking home with him is almost as normal as it was when we were engaged. But just almost, things are actually very different now.

For starters, we don't fight anymore. Unbelievable, I know. But we really don't. I don't beat him up and he doesn't call me names. We actually talk about our day and what we did, what we think, what we want… And that's why I feel bad about not telling him my plans after graduation… Well, at least he's never asked. Yes, we are close now, but Ranma will always be Ranma. I bet he doesn't even think about the future. It's always now with him. And now we are friends, real friends. And he's happy with it.

Funny, how things work out. We start to get along and anything between us is hopeless.

I sigh… I really don't know if I should cry or laugh at the irony of all of it. I shake my head, life's unfair and I think it's making me bitter.

"Konichiwa!" I yell as a greeting but I don't hear Kasumi's voice greeting me back so I assume the house it's empty. That's why I get scared out of my wits when I find my way suddenly blocked by Nabiki.

I yelp surprised. "Nabiki? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at college?"

"I'm visiting" She answers simply. She's looking funny at me and it makes me nervous.

"Well, that's nice. It's been awhile" I say while moving towards the kitchen in a attempt to escape her stare.

"I know" I hear her say behind my back.

I feel her eyes on me. She's waiting for something but I don't know what it is. So I take an apple and start eating it. All the time ignoring her and hoping she'd get tired and leave. After a few bites I sit down on the table and start sorting out the mail and I find it. The letter, it's here. I marvel at it for a second. There it is: my whole future on my hands. I put it aside. I don't want to be too obvious about it.

"Anything new?" Nabiki asks pointing out the mail.

I shake my head. "Nop"

"Really?" She sounds strangely suspicious.

"U-huh"

And she walks towards me and takes THE letter.

"Well I thought this was fairly new when I saw it."

I take a deep breath. I'm really not in the mood for Nabiki's or anyone else's games. I haven't been for a while now.

"I'm not a kid anymore Nabiki. I don't owe you any explanation." There's no point in denying it. It actually makes it easier. Now that Nabiki knows I don't have to worry that much about telling the others. It's kind of a relief.

"I'm not asking for one."

"Then what are you doing?" I cross my arms over my chest.

"I want information Akane." She says glaring at me. "What the hell is this?" And she waves the letter with one hand while the other is on one of her hips.

I roll my eyes. "A le-tter." I tell her really slowly. I don't know why I'm so annoyed at her questioning.

"This is NOT a joke!" She flips.

"Well, no. No if you take it like that." And then I stand up, go over her and take the letter from her hand before leaving the room.

Her eyes widen and I know she's following me. "Akane!"

"Chill out Nabiki. I really don't know what's the big deal. I applied for college. What's wrong with that?"

"Oh there's nothing wrong with that." She starts sarcastically sweet. "Except for the fact that the college you applied for is in a whole different continent!"

I flinch. "Well…It's still college. Just a little faraway." I explain. My "I don't care" pose, wavering a little.

"A little far away? It's in America for god's sake!"

"Look Nabiki I want this. And I'll leave Nerima if I get in."

"You couldn't find a place a little closer home? Dad's going to be heartbroken." She paces a little. "Have you told Ranma?" She asks me. "Of course you haven't." She answers herself after a glance at my direction.

"What does Ranma have to do with any of this? We're not engaged anymore remember."

"Yes, I remember. But he's going to be heartbroken too."

"Don't be ridiculous Nabiki. Please"

"Look if you can't see what's right in front of your eyes it doesn't mean I can't either."

"No I do see everything. I saw it. Ranma doesn't care about where I go. He has other interests." I tell her and I'm afraid she read something into it. Nabiki has always been good at reading people.

"It's this about him? Did something happen between the two of you?"

"NO!" I tell her. I'm very upset now. "Nothing ever happens between Ranma and I. We are… friends now. And I'm sick of everyone thinking my life orbitates around him." 'Because it does… it does and I want it to stop it. This is not healthy. This is not good for me. I have to leave. I have to.' I fight against the tears that are threatening to fall from eyes. I don't want to cry anymore. "He is not the center of my life." I don't know if it's her or me whom I'm trying to convince. "He's not my fiancé. He's nothing but a friend. I know it. Why can't you people accept it and leave me alone." I finish calmly.

"This is not like you Akane."

I roll my eyes and shake my head. "What is it then?"

"What?"

"What's like me? Do I have to stay home and be a clumsy tomboy running a Dojo to be like me?"

"What happened to you?" She asks staring at me as she didn't knew me.

I shake my head. "Why do you care Nabiki? You know, this is not like you either."

She looks at me.

"Worrying. Getting this upset over a letter? Over me leaving home?"

"Look Akane, people might think of me as an Ice Queen but I'm not made of Ice. And I don't like the idea of my little sister moving away home to live in a whole different country at age eighteen."

"What's the big deal? It's just college. I'm supposed to leave home at eighteen."

"But not like this! It's like you're running away!"

"Don't be dramatic Nabiki. I might go to live abroad, so what?"

"So what! Where you planning on telling anyone about this?"

"Of course!" I answer insulted. "Yes I was planning on telling you, and dad, and Kasumi. I was not going to leave in the middle of the night like a criminal."

"So you where going to wait until the day before and tell us so we can drive you to the airport, then?"

"You're being ridiculous again."

"Well you must have been planning this for a very long time now, and you didn't tell a word about. I bet you've been lying even. What the hell do you want me to think?"

I feel ashamed at her accusations. She's right and I can't deny it.

"I didn't want to make a fuse over nothing. I was waiting until I get the answer." I lie trough my teeth. I was simply too much of a wimp to tell them everything.

She stares at me for a second that seems to last forever.

"Well you have your answer now. Come on. Open it."

I look at her defiance pose and I feel nervous out of the sudden. I breath in and then I open the letter.

The room is heavy with expectation when I broke the silence.

"I got in." I say awestruck.

Nabiki is silent for a second. "Congratulations" She says coldly and then she leaves me standing there. A second goes by but it feels like a lifetime.

"Hey"

I look up and see Ranma near the door. The slightest of frowns is drawn over his forehead.

"Got in where?"

The End