Letter

Ina and her father, Sho, had been training in their basement of their house for one week. It wasn't the best place to train, but it was the safest. Ina was getting stronger and faster every day of their training.

"Father," Ina said while taking a break from training.

"What is it?" Sho asked curiously.

"Why did you want to start a Archery Martial Arts school of your own?" Ina asked. Sho remained silent.

"I'm not sure," he said after a brief silence, "I just don't know for sure."

"Really?" Ina asked in confusion.

"Yes," Sho replied, "I guess I just wanted to. It most likely had to do with the fact of your mother's wish."

"Mother's wish?" Ina asked.

"Yes," Sho replied, "I'm sure now it was because of that wish is the reason I started this school."

"What was her wish?" Ina asked. Sho smiled.

"On the day you take over the school," he replied, "then I'll tell you."

"Father," Ina sighed, "face it. We don't have much of a school or dojo. It's our basement." Sho looked around and saw the sad state it was in.

"You're right," Sho stated, "I suppose the only way for us to build a dojo is for you to marry a rich young man."

"Sorry Father," Ina said crossing her arms, "I will not do that."

"Now hold on," Sho stated, "I didn't say you would have to. I'm just saying that you might."

"I want to marry out of love," Ina argued, "not for money." Sho sighed.

"Forget that I brought it up," he stated.

"I will," Ina said still pouting. Sho stood up and stretched.

"I think that's enough training for today," he stated, "why not go play with your friends?"

"But I want to train some more," Ina complained.

"If you don't take breaks," Sho stated, "then you'll lose all of your energy. Breaks are important part of training too." Ina sighed.

"Fine," she complained, "I'll go have fun with my friends. Just cause you want me to." Ina smiled and ran out of the basement.

I hope she can marry for love, Sho thought, that would be incredible.

******

Ina changed from her sky blue karate gi to some regular day clothes. She went outside to see how wonderful the weather was. Clear blue skies with no clouds any where in sight. Ina walked around for awhile to realize that she didn't know where Mia or Akane lived.

They're the only friends I have made, she thought sadly, how do I find them?

"Ina?" Akane's voice called out to her. Ina turned around to find Ryoga and Akane.

"What are you two doing here?" Ina asked curiously.

"We were delivering letters to some old friends," Ryoga replied, "we just finished the last one and saw you."

"Don't you have to train today?" Akane asked.

"My father let me go early," Akane stated, "to spend time with my friends. Unfortunately, I've only made three friends. Mia, Ryoga, and you Akane."

"I see," Akane stated, "well, we are about to go back to my house if you want to join."

"Really?" Ina asked with excitement.

"But Akane," Ryoga interrupted, "aren't we suppose to have just the certain people over?"

"eh?" Ina said in confusion.

"I'm sure they won't mind having someone else over," Akane argued.

"I don't want to impose," Ina stated, "if you have other plans then I'll come over some other time."

"But you won't know how to get there," Akane stated. Ina's face went blank along with her mind. Akane was right.

"Alright," Ina sighed, "I'll come over now." Akane smiled, but Ryoga wasn't too sure about this. They guided Ina to the Tendo dojo where they lived.

"This place is incredible," Ina said happily.

"You've never seen a dojo before?" Ryoga asked curiously, "what about yours?" Ina looked ashamed.

"We don't have one," she replied, "we only have our basement."

"Oh," Akane stated, "that's a shame. Why not borrow ours?" Ina shook her head.

"Thank you for the offer," she thanked Akane, "but it wouldn't work. We have our basement set up a certain way to make it work as best as we can. We would need a lot more land than this to have a proper dojo for our art."

"Really?" Ryoga asked in shock.

"Yes," Ina replied, "but of course we are short on money so we can't." Ryoga and Akane looked worried. "Please don't let that bother you. I'm sure that you have your own troubles to deal with."

"That they do," an old voice called out to them. They all turned to see a short old woman with long white hair, a head band, and a baggy green robe that covered her entire short body.

"Cologne," Akane said with a smile.

"It's good to see you Akane," Cologne said with a smile, "and you too Ryoga."

"I hope you have good news," Ryoga stated.

"Unfortunately," Cologne said sadly, "none of us do." Ina saw other people walking up to them. Two of them were women and one of them was a man. The man had long black hair and wore glasses. One woman had brown hair and had a giant spatula on her back. The other woman had long purple hair.

"Who are they?" Ina asked.

"Hey guys!" Akane shouted happily. Ryoga simply stared at her with a sad look in his eyes. He shook it off and waited for the three to make it over.

"Akane," the man stated, "good to see you in good health."

"Are these friends of yours?" Ina asked. Akane nodded her head.

"This is Mousse," she pointed to the man, "that one with the spatula is Ukyo and she's Shampoo." All three of them bowed their heads.

"Nice to meet you," Mousse said happily.

"Indeed," Ukyo stated.

"Same for me," Shampoo said with a smile.

"You have a lot of friends Akane," Ina said in amazement. They all went inside and Ina was introduced to Soun, Genma, Nabiki, and Kasumi.

"It's always nice to meet a friend of Akane's," Soun said with a smile.

"Indeed," Kasumi said happily. Then, a man with glasses sat next to her.

"I don't think we've been introduced," he stated, "I'm Dr. Tofu."

"Nice to meet you," Ina said happily. However, Genma looked serious.

"Akane," he said with a serious tone, "you didn't tell her why we gathered here did you?" Everyone was silent. Akane looked seriously depressed and shook her head.

"Am I interrupting something?" Ina asked sadly.

"No young child," Genma replied, "its just that we agreed to gather on this day as sort of a reunion."

"What kind of reunion?" Ina asked curiously. Akane stood up and left the room without saying a single word to any one.

"If we are going to talk about it," Cologne stated, "it's no wonder that she left."

"What are you guys talking about?" Ina asked again. Genma reached down next to him and picked up a small box. He handed it down to Cologne, who handed it down to Shampoo, who handed it down to Mousse, who finally gave it to Ina.

"Open it," Soun stated. Ina did as she was asked and found a couple pieces of paper.

"A letter?" Ina asked. Everyone nodded their heads.

"It's been one year to the date that the one who wrote that letter," Genma stated, "left this house. Please read it but not out loud." Ina took the letter and unfold it. As she read the letter, her eyes widened.

'Dear Everyone-

By the time you read this letter, I will be gone. I made sure to hide this letter well enough to give me time to get out of town. Don't get me wrong, this is a great town. But, I just can't take anymore. The challenges from Ryoga, the challenges from Mousse, being constantly chased by Shampoo and her grandmother, being chased by Ukyo, the school principle, the constant trouble of Happosai, all of it. I'm sick and tired of it all. Not once have they or anyone else actually asked me how honestly I felt. I thought that I was able to continue on because of one thing, my love for Akane. Right away, I thought it was going to be a pain, but after sharing so many adventures I found that I loved her. However, that collapsed on me when I over heard her talking to some of her friends. She told them that she didn't care about me. When I heard that, I snapped. I decided that since I wasn't going to make her happy, that I will make sure someone else could. Which is why I'm leaving. This way, she can find the man that will make her happy. This will be my act of love for her. Farewell everyone. I don't think we'll ever meet again.'

"It's signed by Ranma Saotome," Ina said sadly after reading the letter, "that would mean that Ranma is Genma's son."

"Yes," Genma replied, "he is my son."

"After we found the letter," Mousse stated, "we searched all over for him. However, it seemed that he did indeed leave town."

"We couldn't find him anywhere," Ukyo added, "so we went on a journey to find him."

"We took different ways but came back no news," Shampoo stated.

"Does Akane love Ranma?" Ina asked.

"Yes," Soun said sadly, "however, she never admitted it until after he had left. Which is why she is so heart broken."

"Nothing can really be done to fix it either," Nabiki stated, "the only thing that could fix it is Ranma returning." Ina looked at the letter.

"But by the sounds of it," she said sadly.

"Yes," Genma interrupted Ina, "Ranma has no intention of returning. Which is why we are searching for him. Akane does love him and she knows that he loves her."

"This is so tragic," Ina said in a depressing voice.

"This is why I didn't want you to come over," Ryoga stated, "because of this sad tale. It will interfere with your training."

"Training?" everyone else asked curiously.

"Yes," Ina stated, "I'm in the Ichisano School of Archery Martial Arts. I'm going to enter the archery contest next week." Everyone clapped their hands.

"That's good for you," Soun said happily.

"Do you need help training?" Mousse asked, "I know of a great spot to train. It's near town."

"Really?" Ina asked happily. Akane walked back into the room, with what seemed to be a smile.

"Of course," she stated, "we are friends. We'll give you a hand. Plus, most of us know martial arts." Ina smiled a wide smile.

"Thank you all," she said happily.

******

Mia was in her guy form looking through a stack of letters that he wrote himself.

"I couldn't gather up the courage to send a single one," he said quietly to himself, "what a coward I am. I want her to know that I'm at least okay." Staring at the unsent letters, he couldn't help but cry a little.

I need to let her know somehow, he thought, I need her to know that I, Ranma Saotome, am fine. Actually, I'm not really fine at all. I really. . .really want to hold her in my arms. Ranma simply stared at the letters with tears falling from his eyes.

"Akane," he said through his tears, "I miss you so much. What am I to do?" Ranma sat there crying over his letters, wishing that he could cry while holding Akane in his arms. Tears of happiness would fall from his eyes instead of ones of sadness.

The reasons behind Ranma leaving are now clear, yet he is closer than everyone thinks.

What will become of this couple?

How will Ina fair at the archery contest?

Find out in the next chapter of. . . .

Ranma ½

Tragic Love

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