Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. Wish I did, though. D:

Kanji

Akane

-XxX-

Akane couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she wished, or prayed, she couldn't go to sleep. What was on her mind? If there was something on her mind, it resulted in sleepless nights. But what could it be? She was home with her family, friends, and the love of her life. Then there was Ranma. She sat up in her bed, her palm attached to her temples and her arm making a triangle form. She was sleeping alone tonight, just to calm her father down. He was totally against the engagement to Ryoga and thought about adopting him so the marriage would be legally and morally wrong. But, he would come around. Wouldn't he? Or was it her that needed to come around? No, she was just being delusional.

She was now begging for sleep to reach her before her brain died of too many thoughts. Or was that even possible? Great, now she was starting to sound like Ranma. She felt her teeth and tongue collide when she mentioned his name. Even in silence or aloud, it still made her depressed. When he saw her today, he had greeted her so apathetically. But that was when she was with Ryoga. Could it be that he was jealous? She stopped the smile threatening to creep on her lips. That wasn't possible. He was getting married to Ukyo in less than three weeks. Was he doing it to get back at her? No, no. she was just thinking crazy. If Ranma truly didn't want to marry Ukyo, he would have spoken up.

Speaking of Ukyo, on the other hand, she had greeted her so falsely, as if she liked her. Well it was none of her business, she had finally won. She had won Ranma. For two years she had struggled and finally won her prize. The boy who saved her countless times, she had taken him away. The boy who smiled a certain way only to her, she had taken him away. The boy that made her blush by just saying she was cute, she had taken him away. The boy she lov- cancelled their engagement because of kissing Shampoo on their wedding day. The boy that put his martial arts and ego first, the boy that constantly degraded her everyday calling her words like tomboy, uncute, unsexy, clumsy, built like an ox, stupid, and thick thighs. Either way you looked at it, the bad outweighed the good. But still…

Okay, now she was losing her sanity. She needed to clear her mind with some katas. She slipped out of bed and her pajamas into her yellow Gi. She opened her door surreptitiously, trying not to wake anyone as she made her way downstairs. Opening the Dojo door, she stopped in mid-walk. There he was. The boy she was trying not to think about was inches away from her. She felt her teeth and tongue collide as she tried to slowly walk away without him noticing. But something pulled her back, and she stared at the pig-tailed boy as he moved around so gracefully and felt a pang of jealousy. His katas were silent yet so firm, her eyes were mesmerized on the moving figure.

She watched him wipe the sweat off his forehead and tighten the black belt on his white Gi which he so rarely wore. This was her house, right? So she could approach anywhere she wanted and not get hassled or questioned for it. She suddenly stepped forward, and watched him turn around and give her a questioning glance. She ignored him and began assembling the bricks. She didn't care if he was the strongest man in the world; she could get just as good as him if she wanted. She reassured herself this over and over before beginning her routine.

He sat down behind her, not ready to leave. He had so many things he had to say to her and this was probably the only time he would have to say it. "You know," he started, waiting for them to lock eyes. "You would be a lot better if you if you worked on your speed." He saw her retrieve more bricks and set them on top of one another.

"Speed?" She repeated, now interested.

"Yeah," he stood up and demonstrated on her bricks. "You already have the brute strength, all you have to do is work on speed and you'll be almost as strong as me." He joked, watching her eyes twinkle at the mention of being compared to him.

"Oh," she said simply, trying it out for herself. "So like this?" He nodded and she ran through the technique over and over. By the end, she could probably do the technique in her sleep. "Thanks." She smiled, retrieving two water bottles and tossing on at him.

"Don't mention it." He said casually, popping the lid on the bottle and taking a few gulps. For a moment, they both sat in awkward silence, not sure of where to pick up. He glanced at her a few times, and when he turned, she would steal a few glances at him. He finished his water to his dismay, and began playing soccer with the remains. "How have you been for the last month?" He told her at last.

It was her turn to shrug. "Eh, good I guess. Missed Kasumi's cooking, though," She sipped the last drops of water and sat the bottle on the floor. She wasn't sure she wanted to go to sleep yet, and his presence was a bit comforting. "What about you?"

"Good. School, competitions, fights, the usual," she nodded, very aware of the 'usual' to them. She had been apart of it once. She thought back to the time where she had escaped to save Shinnosuke and Ranma had chased her to bring her back home with the event of their hands intertwining. She looked at her palm and unbeknownst to her, her lips curved into a smile. He had noticed this. "What?"

"What?"

"Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing." she said embarrassed at being caught for reminiscing such an old memory.

"Come on, just say it." He urged. It wasn't like he was interested, but he needed a conversation starter. Plus, if he tried, he would probably open up his mouth and end up starting a fight. Not good at the moment.

"Fine," she tapped her fingers on the floor for a moment, wondering how to start the conversation. "I thought back to the time of Shinnosuke."

"Oh," he began to relive that memory as well. He remembered when he had thought he had almost lost her to Shinnosuke. "You were always so stupid and eager." He said unconsciously insulting her.

"Excuse me?" She looked at him incredulously. A whole month and he couldn't go one day without fighting her?

"Well you wanted to help so much you got your life in danger! You are always willing to help others and never put yourself first!"

"And that makes me the bad guy? You're the one that never puts anyone first but yourself!" She felt the rage begin to boil through her stomach as she clenched her fist.

"Yeah, it does! You are always putting people in danger and never worrying about yourself. That makes a lot of people worry! Just like that little stupid move you did by moving away for a month!"

"Well I was just so eager to get away from you!" She yelled at him, her eyes and body emitting her hate. "How could you, Ranma?" She told him, beginning to rant.

"How could I what?" He responded coldly.

"How could you have kissed Shampoo on my wedding? Your wedding? Our wedding?" Their faces were only inches apart now.

"Shampoo tricked me," he said, dropping the cold shoulder act. "I thought things would be-"

"All it showed me Ranma was how disloyal you were to me and how disloyal you would be to me throughout all of our years of marriage! You should have been kissing me! And that was only suppose to be on the alter!" Her scowl broke into blush as she realized what she just said.

"Kiss you?" Ranma's face morphed into sheer disgust. "Was that all?"

Her bangs covered her face. "It's too late for that Ranma. I'm engaged to Ryoga."

"Sorry." He whispered.

"You're apologizing?" She questioned in disbelief.

"Yup," he said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. "I'm sorry for getting tricked by Shampoo and kissing her instead of you at our wedding." He whispered the last part, hoping it was inaudible to her.

"But that doesn't change things does it Ranma?"

He thought about it for a second. "No, Akane. I guess it doesn't," she smiled sadly at him as his words begin to sink in. He walked to the edge of the room before retrieving a piece of paper. She watched him return to her and place it into her palm. "Here."

"What is it?"

"Just think about it. I'm heading off to bed. And Akane?"

"Yeah?" She watched him fiddle with his fingers. "What is it, Ranma?"

"Can you wake me up to school tomorrow; I don't want to bother Ukyo." He felt the heat on his cheeks and continued to stare at his toes.

She smiled for the first time that day, a real smile. "Of course, Ranma," she pointed to the broken bricks. "Thanks for the tips."

He returned her smile before leaving the Dojo and shutting the door behind him. He could still see the look of her smile burned into his brain. It was good to see that smile again. He wondered if she would truly think about what he gave her. If he knew her as well as he thought he did, Akane would stare at that picture for hours. Satisfied, he crept up the stairs and into his room, falling quickly into a deep sleep.

Akane, on the other hand, studied the piece of paper in front of her on the Dojo floor. "Now, why would Ranma give me a picture of Akari?"

-XxX-

A/N: Heyy, sorry it has been so long since I updated. No, I'm not dead; I am just busy on vacation in Minnesota. Woot! Anyways, sorry for the grammer errors. I quickly wrote this and then updated before heading off to bed. I really wanted to focus on Ranma and Akane spending some time together WITHOUT Ryoga. I tried to make it a little fluffy too. But kept it RanxAka style!

Thanks for reading, please review!