Chapter 1

"What do you think happened? He seemed fine one moment and then just collapsed the next," Nabiki asked, eyeing the newcomer suspiciously.

"I don't know, but he's not running a fever," Kasumi responded as she gently felt his forehead.

"It might have something to do with that big red welt he has on his head."

"Genma, was he attacked on the way here?" Soun asked. The giant panda shook his head and looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. "No? Then I have no idea what it could be."

"Father, do you think it had to do with what you said about Akane?" Kasumi wondered aloud.

"I don't think so. I mean, he's never even met Akane. Why would it matter to him that she's married?"

"But he did ask about her specifically, Daddy. Don't you find that odd?" Nabiki added.

"Father, you need to stop telling people Akane is married. You know it's not true."

"Not technically..."Soun retorted.

"Which means she's not, Daddy!" Nabiki exclaimed, exasperated beyond belief.

"We had the engagement ceremony and she moved to France to train in Piccolet's School until she reaches a marriageable age. She would have already been married if they didn't insist on holding the ceremony there!" Soun said, trying to defend himself.

"Yes, one of her more brilliant moments, convincing Piccolet that she should study his…art before they get married. It bought her some time."

"Please, Nabiki. Don't say that. People will think she doesn't want to marry him."

"She doesn't, Daddy! She's only doing it because she lost that ridiculous competition that had nothing to do with martial arts! Doing it because of a debt you owe! She wants nothing to do with that wide-mouthed freak!"

I could only hear Soun mumble something lowly. I had caught most of the conversation, having come slowly back to consciousness. I missed a bunch of the conversation, but understood one thing clearly: Akane wasn't married. She was simply engaged. And to Picolet of all people. I groaned at the memory of the 'kiss' Piccolet had given me. I couldn't let Akane marry that mutant.

"Oh, good. It looks like he's coming to," Kasumi said, "I'll go get us more tea."

Soun helped me up from the floor and we all sat around the table. I used the time to think. Of course, my first reaction upon hearing about Picolet was to get Akane away from the freak, but after calming down I realized that this was what I wished for. The Voice had promised Akane would be safe and I had to assume that Picolet would keep her safe or moving her to France would keep her safe.

It grated and infuriated me to think of Picolet engaged to Akane, though. Of Picolet kissing Akane. But, from Kasumi and Nabiki's conversation, I was sure that Akane was trying to find a way out. I knew that she could defend herself against unwanted attention.

Resolved, but still internally fuming, I grit my teeth and tensed just as Kasumi walked into the room. She gave me a wide-eyed look and then I noticed that Nabiki was eyeing me warily again, too. I took a deep breath and tried to school my face. I really needed to get ahold of myself!

Kasumi served everyone tea as she sat down at the table. Without preamble, Soun said, "Your problem isn't so terrible, after all! My daughter, Kasumi. Nineteen. And Nabiki. Seventeen. Pick the one you want. She'll be your fiancée."

"Oh, he wants Nabiki," Kasumi quickly chimed in, "After all, they are almost the same age and they could get to know each other better since they will be going to school together."

Nabiki shot her sister a look that would make most of her classmates run for the hills.

"That makes perfect sense," Soun agreed.

"Yes, that does sound right. Ranma, meet your new fiancée, Nabiki," Dad added.

"Now wait a minute…"Nabiki began hotly.

"No, that's fine," I said, abruptly interrupting her. "Nabiki it is."

I have zero desire to be engaged to Nabiki. Less than zero actually. The thought actually pissed me off. With our past, the thought was actually a bit nauseating, too, but I could not and would not be engaged to Kasumi. First, for the most part, Kasumi had always been kind to me and I didn't want her sucked into the insanity of my life. Secondly, I saw Kasumi more like an older sister than anything else. It felt almost incestuous to be engaged to her.

I looked over to see Dad looking pleased with himself and the situation. I was sure my father was surprised by his luck that I had accepted the engagement so easily. I'll make sure to beat the crap out of him later.

Nabiki glared at me and I was sure she tried to think of a way out of the situation, but after Akane's disastrous engagement to Picolet, I'm sure she knew better. I knew from experience that their otherwise lenient father was frustratingly stubborn and firm when it came to his daughters' engagements to fulfill his honor. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed and I could already see her scheming.

I spent the night tossing and turning, my mind reeling over the events of...the day...past year…? It was all so confusing and overwhelming, so it was unsurprising that I could not sleep that night. Especially when my thoughts kept drifting back to Akane.

Akane running along the wall in the cave. Akane doll sized, stuffed in my shirt, but still defending me in that state. Akane limp in my arms. Akane unmoving and growing cold.

But there were other memories of Akane, of her walking next to me on the way to school. Sitting next to her during dinner. Akane working on her katas in the dojo. Akane offering me friendship the first day we met with that beautiful smile I loved.

Akane…

With my father snoring loudly on the futon next to me, I let the tears steam down my face as I tried to mourn her death, celebrate her life, and mourn my loss of her from my life.

I found that I didn't want to do anything. What I really wanted was to be left alone. To sit and wallow. To will myself to sleep so I could just forget.

Or not forget.

I could sacrifice the life I had with Akane, but I wouldn't want to lose my memories of her. In a way, I was the only one to have memories of my version of her. It felt disrespectful and just wrong to try to forget her.

Needless to say, I was a bit grumpy and not looking forward to my first day at Furinkan. But I put up no argument and no complaint as I followed Nabiki out of the house, at a distance, not wanting to interact with her.

Being engaged to Nabiki was very different than being engaged to Akane. When I got splashed by the old lady on the way to school Nabiki just looked back at me and shrugged. It didn't matter to her if I showed up to school for the first time as a girl, she just left me at the gate and went to find her friends. I quickly realized that she was planning on keeping our engagement a secret and didn't care what happened to me. Well, that was fine with me. I wanted to deal with her as little as possible.

Belatedly, I realized the other major difference without Akane there: there was no Kuno and the hentai horde to contend with. Obviously Kuno was still at the school, but he had no reason to pick a fight with me.

I went quickly into the bathroom and splashed myself with hot water before classes began. It was still my first day and I wanted to be introduced as a boy. During class, my thoughts inadvertently went back to Akane. I couldn't help but stare at her empty seat that seemed to taunt me. I could picture her there, the way she used to look with the sun outlining her profile, when I used to sneak peeks at her while I pretended to be napping.

I desperately wanted to find her and see for myself that she was ok. I wanted... no I needed proof with my own eyes that she was alive. But I had no clue on how to get to France. It wasn't China, I couldn't just swim there.

But I knew that I couldn't go. I had made that decision the previous night. If I saw her, I know I would not be able to walk away from her. There was no way for me to look upon her face, to see her smile, and not want to hold her. To be with her.

So, I stayed and just went through the motions. Even looking for the cure to my curse did not drive me the way it had when I first came to Nerima. As the days went by, I realized my body felt different. Weak and untrained. I lacked the speed and muscle density I had before coming back. The only benefit was I lacked some of the aches and pains I had received from old injuries. It was frustrating and I knew I needed to train to get myself into my future shape (and wasn't that a confusing and weird thought), but for once in my life, I just simply didn't care about martial arts.

It was weird walking to school every day with Nabiki. We had barely spoken since the engagement and she made no effort to get to know me. I was surprised that she hadn't sold the information of my curse to my classmates. I could only guess that now that I was her fiancé, she didn't want anything embarrassing getting around that would link directly to her. But it was fine and dandy when it was Akane and her reputation on the line. I didn't think I could like Nabiki less, but I was wrong.

I had noticed Kuno around school and he also seemed to be missing Akane. He was still dressed in his stupid hamaka pants and carried a wooden bokken, but I caught him weeping openly at a picture of Akane. It pissed me off to no end that he had a picture of her and I instinctively went to take it from him, but the picture itself wasn't scandalous so I stopped myself. I also knew that Nabiki would just sell him some more. I didn't want to interact with him and deal with all that stupid if I could avoid it.

Leaving school one day, I sensed and barely dodged an attack. Damn, I really was slow. Looking up, I saw Ryoga kneeling in a crater created by his steel lined umbrella.

I smiled for the first time in months. It felt weird and stiff. Like my face just wasn't used to it.

I knew that Ryoga had always considered me a foe, and when he first came to Nerima, Ryoga hated me, but I had never felt like that. In fact, after the way he had saved my life and helped to save Akane's life, I was actually pretty fond of the idiot. If nothing else, I owed him a life debt for myself. But what he did for Akane? There was no way I could ever repay him for that. Maybe this time around, we could have a different relationship without Akane…

I shook that thought away.

"Hey, Ryoga!" I said with a wave and enthusiasm that even surprised me.

As he stood, Ryoga paused, surprised at the greeting. Finally getting over his shock, he screamed, "RANMA!" and pointed his umbrella at my face.

"Ryoga," I said and held up a hand, "wait, please. Lemme talk to ya first, then if you still want your revenge, I'll stand there and let ya hit me."

Ryoga looked like he was ready to pounce at any second, but paused. I wondered if he thought I was trying to fool him.

"Fine," he eventually spat, "but if this is a trick, I'll kill you!"

I tried not to roll my eyes at the familiar threat, but I couldn't quiet hold back the smile.

"Look...man, I don't know where to start, but I guess I better apologize first. I know why you want revenge. I know you showed up at the abandoned lot after four days and when you didn't find me there, you followed me. I know you followed me to China and fell into the spring of drowned piglet. I'm sorry you got cursed. "

Ryoga stood stock still. It looked like his brain was trying very hard to process all the new information. Pigboy wasn't the brightest guy on his best day, so I gave him some time to think. It honestly looked pretty painful.

"Look, I know you think this is all my fault and I know that part of it is. I got cursed too at Jusenkyo. My pop turns into a panda and I...I turn into a redheaded girl." I paused for a moment before adding, "The same redhead who accidentally pushed you into the spring at Jusenkyo. Again, I can't tell ya how sorry I am that you were cursed." At this, I bowed low at the waist to Ryoga.

When I came up from my bow, I could see Ryoga standing there stunned before he fell shocked on his ass. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but I could tell he was surprised.

After a moment, Ryoga took a deep breath and said, "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

I sat down across from Ryoga and started to tell him about everything that happened to me since coming to Nerima. Ryoga had blanched at hearing how he used his curse to get close to Akane, a girl he'd never even met. I could tell he thought I was lying, since he thought he would never do anything that dishonorable to an innocent girl. But the more I spoke, the more Ryoga began to believe me. I could see it on his face.

When I finally finished my story, Ryoga didn't know how to respond. He sat without saying anything. I was wondering what he struggling with: who was this girl Akane and why had she affected him so much? Had he really not come up with a cure in over two years? Did we actually work together to kill a demi-god?

"What do you want from me, Ranma? Why tell me all of this?" he finally said in almost a whisper

"I dunno, man…I just thought maybe you might remember what had happened or maybe you have some ideas. I'm just so lost, I don't know what to do!" I punctuated this by slamming my fist into the ground and causing cracks to spiderweb in an outward pattern, the action shocking Ryoga.

We sat together for a while longer, Ryoga trying to come to grips with everything I told him while I sat and tried to calm myself down. My temper seemed to always be at the tipping point. I could sense Ryoga looking at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

I knew that this alternate reality was getting to me, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I was able to talk to someone about it. I thought I would be used to being alone, not having any real company growing up and always on the road with just Pops for company. But the last two years living with the Tendos and having Akane as almost a constant companion had changed me. I finally realized how much I relied on Akane. She was always there for me, whether I liked it or not. I would always get mad at her for inserting herself into my life, putting herself in danger, and getting involved when I didn't ask for her help. I was always too proud to admit that her interference always made me feel good. Even from the beginning when we fought about everything, she was always there to help me. She was the first person in my life that really looked out for me and it made me feel good. Like I mattered.

Now I had no one.

"So, do you still want your revenge?" I asked in a small voice.

Ryoga looked over and again I wondered what he saw. I probably looked completely pathetic. Ryoga got to his feet, pulling his backpack back on, and replied, "No. But I don't know what to do. I…I have a lot to think about." He turned to leave.

"Why don't you stay around here?" I get out in a rush. "I'm sure that the Tendos won't mind you staying at the dojo and, well, I could use a...a friend around here."

Ryoga seemed honestly surprised by the suggestion. "Ummm...sure, I guess…"

With that, we headed off to the Tendo dojo. Somewhere along the way, I looked back and realized that Ryoga was gone. Fuck. The moron was probably in Hokkaido by now.

A/N: Hi all! I wouldn't go as far as to say I am back, but I at least finished the next chapter! I hope you like it. As you can see, Ranma's life is very different with a little bit of foresight and without Akane.

I'm sorry if there was some confusion with the notifications for the second chapter. I originally posted the new chapter a few days ago but realized that I did not write it in the first person and had to go back and fix everything.

Thank you so much to AlwaysZutarian for betaing this story twice! She's the best!