In case anyone was confused, I have changed my pen name to Saotome Akane since I think it fits the stories I will write better than my last one. Plus, you know how I have said that this story will get funnier after a few chapters, well, I've decided that I will keep it a bit melancholy throughout the entire thing, because I think it will be better that way. Nevertheless, do not worry; my fanfiction will definitely have a happy ending. Read on!

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Ai Shite Nai Wake Ja Nai Chapter 5: My heart belongs to you.

"Akane, come downstairs. I would like you to meet your new fiancé."

Newfiancé? Yet, how could it be? Her father couldn't have found her a new fiancé already! Akane was mortified. She averted her gaze from the descending cherry blossoms and to her closed door. Beyond it was a new future, a future without Ranma by her side. She slowly walked to the door opening it hesitantly. When she saw that no one was there, Akane softly walked down the stairs.

Kasumi greeted her there "Akane, don't worry, the new fiancé isn't as bad as you think. He and our father are waiting for you in the dojo."

As Akane walked to the dojo, a thought crept slowly into her head. Who could the now fiancé be? It had to be someone with martial arts abilities, preferably someone from a family of martial artists. It couldn't have been Kuno, could it? Or even worse, Happosai. No, her father was not so sick that he would engage her to a 100-year-old perverted old freak. As the feeling of drear inside her began to increase, Akane decided that even if it were someone she despised, she would always be able to run away or if nothing else helped simply kill him. She swiftly slid open the door to the dojo and gasped in shock.

Inside, next to her father her new fiancé was standing looking down at the ground, blushing.

"Ryouga!" Akane managed to whisper before she fainted.

Ryouga watched as Akane had entered the room, he watched as her determined features turned into shock, and how her body fell to the floor with a soft thud. " Dear Akane-san, do you hate me that much that you can't bear to be my fiancée?" he thought as he picked up her unconscious figure along with Soun and carried Akane into her room.

"My little girl!" Soun proclaimed, tears of bliss already streaming freely down his cheeks "Fainting from the excitement of seeing her new fiancé. Oh, the joy of that!"

"I don't think she was happy to see me," Ryouga protested as they lowered Akane onto her bed. "Perhaps surprising her like this wasn't a marvelous idea."

"Nonsense! Now the future of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts is established! I will leave you two alone, so Akane can talk to her new fiancé once she wakes up." Soun exited the room making sure to close the door tightly behind him.

Ryouga could not believe his luck. Ranma had run away like a downright coward and Akane was his fiancée. It was unrealistic, unbelievable, illusionary, however something remained unclear to him. Akane had looked terrified when she saw him, could it be that she was in love with Ranma? Could it be that he was making a colossal mistake by getting himself engaged to Akane? Ryouga did not know. It had not even been his fault anyway. His parents and Mr. Tendo made the agreement themselves without even bothering to ask him, not that Ryouga would have protested or anything.

Ryouga sighed deeply. He looked over at Akane, she was still unconscious. The surprised look engraved deeply into her soft features. Did she really loath him? Even if Akane did not detest him now, it would be only a matter of time until she would. If this engagement continued, eventually Ryouga would have to confess his elation to P-chan. And when that happened, Ryouga was certain that Akane would be angry enough to kill him.

However, maybe, just maybe Akane would forgive him. Maybe someday, she would love him with the same passion as he loved her. He let out another heavy, lingering sigh and lost himself in a daydream.

Akane was awakened abruptly by a peculiar noise. She tried to open her eyes and get up, but her head was still hazy from the fall she took. Instead, she focused her other senses. Immediately, she perceived a presence of another person in her room. Ryouga, she thought, of all people in Nerima, why did she have to get engaged to him?

If her father had decided to engage her to someone like Kuno or Gosunkugi breaking a few bones would have surely terminated the insane engagement, however, she would not bring herself to harm Ryouga. To Akane, Ryouga was a dear friend and hurting him did not appeal to her. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Poor Ryouga, this stupid engagement must have been hard on him, too. She already knew what engaged to someone you didn't love felt like. Maybe someday, she would love him. No, that was not possible, her heart belonged to Ranma.

If Ranma came back, what would have happened? Would she be able to end this disaster? Akane did not know. Finally, deciding that thinking will get her nowhere, Akane tried to clear her had and slowly sat up. She looked over at Ryouga who seemed to be lost on a daydream and gently shook his shoulder.

"Ryouga-kun, she called out softly "I need to talk to you."

Ryouga snapped out of his dreamlike state and gazed at Akane, she was looking at him with a saddened expression, her amber eyes filled with pity. Was it for him, or herself?

"Ryouga-kun, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that my father forced you to do this." She proceeded as she slowly took out her mallet "I'll mallet daddy to Osaka for doing this to both of us!"

What was she saying? Did Akane think that he was against the new engagement? If he confessed his feelings now, what would she do? Ryouga did not know, but it had to be now or never. "A… Akane, I… I… I don't think that this engagement would work. However, think of what your father would do if we told him that." Great, he missed his perfect chance and lied to her as well. Why was he so scared to tell her?

"You're right," Akane sighed with a hint of regret as the mallet vanished from her hands. "If we tell him that we want to end this engagement, who knows what he might try to do? Besides, Ranma might someday come back and I am sure that otou-san will change his mind then. I'm sure of it" Why did she say that aloud? Now, Ryouga was sure to figure out that she had feelings for Ranma.

Did she love Ranma? Even after all the chaos he had brought into her life? No, it was impossible. "Akane, do you love Ranma?" Even after asking that question, Ryouga knew that even if Akane had feelings for his greatest rival, she would never admit such a weakness. However, Ryouga felt that it was necessary to ask her nonetheless.

"Of course not!" she retorted a little too quickly, "As if someone could love a perverted baka like him!" Akane felt ashamed about having to lie to Ryouga, but it had to be done no matter what no matter what the repercussions would be.

Ryouga's expression remained unchanged, but his melancholy gaze turned almost bitter, as if the lost boy did not trust her. Wanting to get his mind off the agonizing subject, she suggested, "Well, I guess we should go downstairs, everyone has been completely silent. They must be waiting for us.

As Ryouga and Akane descended the stairway, a horrible sight greeted their eyes. All the furniture had been cleaned out of the tearoom and her family, dressed in traditional Japanese attire, stood in the middle along with a Shinto priestess. The priestess smiled gently at Akane as if wanting to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, but no smile could have made Akane feel better. Why? Why would her family do this to her?

"Otou-san, what is all this?" Akane asked even though she knew that this could only mean one thing as she tried her best to suppress her temper.

"This my child, is your wedding."

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I know that right now most of you want to kill me, but you have no idea what has been going on. I am hoping to get an early start at chapter 6 though and if I do not finish it in 10 days, I give you every right to flame me. Once again, I am terribly sorry for not updating. In addition, since the identity of the new fiancé was revealed in this chapter, I would like to congratulate Frameofmind, xero-ghost, Hououza, and Don't eat yellow snow for guessing right. You should receive the money in your mail within the next 30-50 years. Here come the responses to your reviews.

Mlink: ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is the ability to know about things ahead of time or know that something had happened without being there. I hope that answered you question.

xero-ghost: Ranma's dream was influenced by his love of Akane so I guess you could say that it was his subconscious mind telling him to go back. I am sorry for the third cliffhanger, but I wrote that part before I got your review, besides I love giving my chapters endings like that. It makes people want to read more of the story and like Chia pet said, it gives them something to think about before I post the next chapter. However, if Chapter 6 will turn out the way I plan it to, there will not be a cliffhanger in there.

Don't eat yellow snow: Which part made you go: WTF? Was it the dream? I'm just a bit curious.

Karburator: Thank you so much for pointing out the mistakes!!!

Ghelai08: I promise that this will get more romantic once Ranma comes back.

Hououza: I'm pretty sure I have author alerts enabled, if you want, you can give me your e-mail address and I'll send you an e-mail every time I update.

Dogbert Carroll: Did your mother ever tell you that if you had nothing nice to say, not to say anything at all?

A special note to Alex Ultra: I completely loved your idea about Kuno being Akane's new fiancé and I even considered changing the plot so it would be that way. However, if I did that, then it would have taken me a lot time to think of a new plot and it would get too complicated. I might do something like that in one of my future stories though.

Everyone else: Thank you for all of your reviews! They are my inspiration.

Sneak Peek at Chapter 6: Ranma is coming back. How will Akane and Ryouga react to that?