Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters so don't sue me.

What! Ranma left the Tendo Dojo? He's not a Saotome anymore? What will

happen to their lives now? Can their love still be saved? Read on and find out.

R&R... R/A pairings

The Right One For Me

by: numbskull

Part 15: Confrontation

Morning came and Ranma went to school gloomily. Akane didn't go out of her room ever since last night. Naru began to worry about Akane so she asked Shinobu to bring some breakfast for Akane.

Shinobu went to Akane's room, tray in hand, and knocked softly on her door. There was no response.

"Akane-san, this is Shinobu. I've brought you some breakfast." Still, there was no response. "I'll just leave it here , Akane-san. Please be okay. Everybody's worried about you." Shinobu said and left.

Akane sat in a corner with her arms wrapped around her legs. She heard Shinobu called her but she didn't move from her place. She's too weak to move. Then, she heard Shinobu said that everybody's worried about her and heard Shinobu's footsteps fading. At first she didn't care what she said but then she didn't want anybody to worry about her. 'I'm a strong girl. I can take care of myself. I shouldn't be like this. I don't want them to worry about me. Ranma moved on and maybe I should too." Akane stood up and opened the door to get the food Shinobu brought her.

After having her breakfast, Akane brought the tray to the kitchen and washed it. She finished washing the dishes and she decided to study for a bit. She went back to her room and opened her book. After a few hours of studying, Akane closed her book and stretched. "(sigh) Maybe I need to relax a little. A little walk will do." Akane stood up and took her jacket and hat and went out of the inn.

The cool breeze washed over her face as she walked.

'It's cold out here. It's truly the Christmas season and Keitaro's trial exam at Toudai will be in about two weeks. And Naru-san's also taking the exam and so is Mutsumi-san...' Akane shivered as another cold breeze blew by.

'It's getting dark. I better head back now.' Akane thought and turned back. As she walked back to Hinata Sou, a very strong wind blew past her and she covered her eyes and continued walking. Then, she bumped into someone and she fell back.

"Ittai (ouch)!" Akane shrieked.

"G-Gomenasai (I'm sorry)! Let me h-help you up." The voice said and helped Akane up. She felt cold hands touched her helping her up. She shook off the dust of her jacket.

"D-Daijobu (Are you alright), m-m-miss?" The voice asked still holding Akane.

"Hai (yes)." Akane answered and looked up to the person she bumped.

"R-Ranma!" Akane shrieked as she realized it was Ranma who she bumped into and blushed as she's still holding onto Ranma.

"Ak-kane?" Ranma said as he realized it was Akane. "W-What are you doing o-out here in t-the cold?" Akane asked as she noticed that Ranma wore his usual sleeved red Chinese shirt.

"I just got back from work and I'm heading back to the inn now." Ranma said as he started shivering at the coldness of the breeze.

" I see." Akane said. "What are you doing out here anyway?" Ranma asked.

"I just needed to relax and I thought that walking a little bit will relieve me from what happened last night." Akane said coldly.

"Akane, I'm sorry for what happened last night. It was so sudden and I..." Akane cut him off. "It's okay Ranma. I've thought about it just this morning and maybe you've really moved on. So, I thought I'd do the same." Akane said as she started to walk away. Ranma caught up to her and grabbed her arm. "Let go of me!" Akane yelled as she struggled to get off of Ranma's grip. "L-Let me explain! You don't even l-listen to what I'm going to t-tell you!" Ranma yelled back but he suddenly became quiet and softened his grip on her. Akane noticed this so she slid off her arm from Ranma's grip and looked at him. He had somewhat became serious and quiet which frightened Akane a little. Ranma lowered his head and walked away from Akane without even looking back at her but Akane suddenly spoke.

"Do you love her?" Akane asked without thinking.

Ranma stopped dead on his tracks and turned around to look at Akane. "W-Who?" He asked dumbly.

"Naru-san, you dolt!" Akane yelled.

'Do I love her? Do I seriously love her or do I just like her?' Ranma thought deeply. He snapped out of his reverie when he remembered that Akane's still waiting for his answer. "Umm.. well.. I d-don't know. I m-mean I'm c-confused right n-now that I can't even s-sort out my feelings. Why are you a-asking me that q-question an-nyway!" Ranma said nervously while his teeth are chattering from the cold causing him to stutter.

"No reason." Akane said flatly. Then she noticed Ranma's shivering from the cold so she took off her jacket and offered it to him. "Do you want to borrow my jacket? I can see you are cold."

"No t-t-thanks. Y-You need it t-t-the mo-most. I c-can take c-c-care of m-myself." Ranma stuttered finding it hard to speak straight when it's so cold. They both walked back to the inn without talking to each other.

They finally reached the inn and went to their own rooms. Before Akane entered her room, Ranma spoke. "Would you like to join our study group since you love to study anyway and Shinobu told me that you brought with you some textbooks." Ranma asked but he got no answer. "Okay then. If you made up your mind, we're just at Keitaro's room after dinner. Uhhh.. we'll see you." Ranma said and went inside his room. Akane lowered her head and shook it. 'He's just asking me to join their study group. There's nothing I should doubt about. I'll join them and maybe I can observe if he's happy with Naru-san.' Akane thought and went inside her room.

Ranma and Akane didn't spoke to each other for two weeks. They only focused on their studies. Akane in silent observation, kept eyeing Ranma and Naru. She noticed that the they're both getting closer and he doesn't act like an insensitive jerk to Naru. Akane frowned and wished that Ranma would act like that to her always like he acts toward Naru. Akane focused back on her studies and tried hard not to take another look on the couple.

End.

So how was it? I finally posted another chapter. (smiles) I'm so glad that I found a time to post this. So please review this chapter. I hope you all like it!

numbskull: Well, it seems like it's quiet here today. No one's bothering me. (sighs) I guess I can take a nap. I'll see you guys on the next chapter. Oh and I think this story's almost finished! I think it's two chapters more then, it's the end. I don't want to make this too long anyway. So I hope you guys will keep on reading this fanfic. Ja ne!

Preview of the next chapter:

It's the day of the trial exam for Toudai. Ranma asked Naru out and realized something. What is it? What could Ranma be thinking at that moment. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

About the reviews:

xero-ghost: That's alright, my dear friend. I know you have your own reasons why you missed out a lot of this story lately. (smiles)

Well, I agree that Ranma's a bit ooc here but somehow he can change for the better if he wants to have a good relationship or maybe friendship with Naru. So I made him a bit ooc here. And especially Naru. Notice she haven't beaten up Ranma since the first time they met? Thanks for reviewing again! (smiles)

Inu: Wow! I think I'm going to read your fanfic too! (smiles) I bet your story is way better than mine. Thanks for reviewing my story. (smiles) I was thinking of making another one when I get some time to make a new one. I'll update as soon as I can. (smiles)