Arc V: The Breaking Point
Chapter: Confrontations

"Where'd she go?" Ranma asked somewhat panicked.

"I dunno, she just left," Taro responded with a shrug.

"Damn you, Ranma! What did you do to me?" Ryoga shouted as he looked over to see Ranma and Taro talking. He hated being ignored.

"Nothin', pork breath! Now shut the hell up!"

"Who you callin' pork breath?!"

"Well, I'll let you to get on with your little lover's quarrel, I got better things to do," Taro interrupted with a roll of his eyes.

He realized that the fighting wasn't going to continue and decided that he would try to catch up with Nabiki before lunch was over, but was stopped by Ranma.

"Wait! Why'd she splash us with water?" the pig-tailed boy asked.

He was trying to figure out what happened, Akane had rarely activated his curse unless he was doing something to provoke her and all he had been doing was fighting with Ryoga and she had seen them fight so often that it didn't bother her at all. He hadn't even known she had come to watch them.

"Who the hell are you talking about? Who splashed us?" Ryoga asked, irritated at not knowing what was going on. He was going to take that irritation out on whoever decided to activate his curse for no reason.

Taro sighed when he realized he should just start his explanation over or he would end up repeating himself. He could have just walked away but realized that they would just hound him until they got their answers. He knew from experience that they were both as stubborn as they were annoying.

"Akane. She sat down next to me, then suddenly splashed you with water and then took off. I don't know where she went," he said looking at Ranma, "and I have no idea why she decided to splash you."

Taro turned around to leave and noticed Ryoga sat there in shock, he visibly paled and his eyes became wide in fright.

"No! She couldn't have. She didn't know!" Ryoga shouted in shock, his voice turned angry as he added, "It was you! You told her, didn't you, Ranma?!" He jabbed his finger at the pig-tail boy in accusation.

Taro turned his attention back to the two boys, hoping that their fight was going to continue after all. Both martial artists had jumped to their feet, Ryoga holding his clothing in front of himself to try to hang onto what little dignity he had left.

"I didn't tell her! I have no idea how she found out!"

"It had to be you! You always hated the way she treated P-Chan!"

"I told ya, I didn't tell her!"

Listening to their conversation, Taro finally figured out what they were arguing about but was surprised when he realized that Akane didn't know about Ryoga's curse.

"I told her, you dumbasses!"

Two heads snapped towards him, both glaring at him with such anger he would have shivered in fear if he were a lesser man.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Ranma screamed, getting in Taro's face. Here was a convenient target for his tumultuous emotions.

"How the fuck was I supposed to know she didn't know? Why the hell were you two keeping it a secret from her in the first place?" Taro demanded.

Ranma pulled back at that and blurted, "That doesn't matter!"

Frustrated, the pig-tailed boy ran his hand through his hair and started pacing. That was a lie. He knew it did matter, it would matter a lot to Akane.

"I gotta...I gotta find her," he muttered to himself.

He looked up to see Taro glaring at him, but he didn't have time to deal with him now. He really needed to find Akane and explain things to her. He would take Ryoga with him, they would explain everything to her and hope that she wouldn't be too upset that they had lied to her. He turned around to tell the fanged boy the plan but he was gone.

"Where did he go?"

"How the hell should I know?" Taro growled out before turning away and stalking off. He wasn't a damn information booth! He got even more pissed off when he realized that lunch was over and he wouldn't be able to see Nabiki after all.

Ranma quickly realized that Ryoga must have gone after Akane and he swore to himself before he took off. He had to find her first. The pig-tailed boy had no idea what the directionally challenged idiot would say to Akane if he found her first, but Ranma guessed whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

When Taro told her about the curse, she couldn't believe it. But there was a part of her that told her that Taro was right, that he wouldn't lie about something like that. But she had to see for herself. So she grabbed a hose and splashed them both. When she first saw the transformation, her mind seemed to freeze, shocked at the information her eyes were showing her, while her brain still denied that such a thing was possible.

Before she realized it, she walked away from the scene and then she was running. With no destination in mind, she just ran and kept running. She needed to get away. Her body took her automatically to the park, a place where she felt safe. She collapsed on a bench under her favorite tree. Her breathing was ragged, more from her emotional turmoil than from her frantic run. She tried to ignore the dull pain in her chest as she went over and over what she just learned.

Ryoga was P-chan.

P-Chan was Ryoga.

As much as those two phrases ran through her head, she couldn't get her mind around it.

At first she thought there was some mistake. There had to be. Even though she saw the transformation with her own two eyes, she tried to reason it away. Maybe, just maybe she had seen it wrong. She could've missed seeing Ryoga land somewhere else and P-Chan just happened to be there.

However, she knew immediately that she was wrong. She had seen the Jusenkyo transformations too often to not recognize one when she saw it. Besides, Taro had told her about the curse and he was a lot of things, but a liar wasn't one of them.

But, maybe his curse was a new one that just happened to be pig related! Ryoga got lost a lot and it was plausible that if he happened to be in China since the last time she saw him, and he ended up in Jusenkyo, he could have fallen into one of the ponds. That could have easily happened.

Yes, that must have been it!

Except...

Except for the bandana. Both Ryoga and P-Chan had the same yellow and black bandana. How had she not recognized it before? She had seen it on her pet often enough but it just never clicked for her. She just couldn't understand it. Why had she not questioned why P-Chan always had that bandana on? How could she not have seen it looked exactly like Ryoga's?

But why would she have ever put it together when she had seen Ryoga get wet before!

She remembered clearly seeing Ryoga in her backyard pond with Ranma while the latter was in his girl form. But memories of Ranma continually and frustratingly splashing Ryoga during the incident came back to her, along with the memories of what had come after. They had all been at the water park and she had gone on that "date" with Ryoga. The entire time Ranma and Shampoo had been after the waterproof soap. At the time she was just relieved to have escaped Ryoga's rather enthusiastic hugs that she didn't think twice about the fact that he just disappeared. She never wondered why he had the waterproof soap. She just assumed he got lost...and then P-chan had shown up shortly after.

P-Chan did that a lot. Show up in random places, places he shouldn't have been able to get to. How did a little black piglet end up in the forests of Ryugenzawa? How did a defenseless pig survive in a place with animals the size of monsters? How did he show up in another forest when she was possessed by the doll spirit? Pigs were smart, everyone knew that. But even as smart as pigs were, how did he know she needed help in that doll form? How did he always seem to know how she felt when she talked to him? Sometimes she had felt that her little P-Chan could feel and think like a human, now she finally realized how right she had been.

It was then that she accepted the heartbreaking truth.

He had to find her. He needed to explain. He needed to apologize.

He never wanted something like this to happen but it had always been a possibility. He had been lucky so far that his curse had never been revealed to her. There were so many times it could have happened accidentally but it didn't, and every time he narrowly escaped detection, he had been thankful. He foolishly thought that he could find a cure and the secret would forever be buried.

He hadn't meant to deceive her in the first place. Originally he had only stayed with her because it annoyed Ranma. He loved to see the pig-tailed boy get jealous when Akane showered her "pet" with attention. Then things changed when she started to show him affection.

She played with him. She hugged him. She confided in him. She protected him.

She was the first person in a very long time to care for him. Sure she thought he was her pet the whole time but he didn't care. It just felt so good to have someone love him.

And in return he loved her. How could he not when he knew what a good person she was? He could all but see the goodness in her and there were times he swore he saw her halo. Even when he was in his human form she treated him well. She still defended him, still tried to protect him. He ignored the thought that she only did it because she thought he was weaker than Ranma.

Ranma who never saw how wonderful she was. Ranma who never appreciated her. Ranma who had no clue as to how lucky he was to have her as a fiancée. If she were his, he would treat her right. He wouldn't two time on her. He wouldn't insult her. He would protect her. He would tell her how beautiful she was. He would treat her like the angel he knew she was.

He chased those thoughts away, or tried to as best he could. Since the failed wedding, he had tried to give her up, but she was like an addiction that was hard to break and he occasionally had lapses where she was all he could think of.

He had Akari now and she was wonderfully sweet, beautiful, and kind. Best of all, she knew about his curse and actually liked it. But Akane would always be his first love. Even if he had finally given up on her, she would always have a special place in his heart.

With his mind whirling he had gotten lost, not that he knew where he was going. Ryoga focusing on his task would not have made a difference. He cursed as he ran into the park. He slowed down and prayed he had not accidentally left the city.

Turning to his left, he caught a glimpse of a figure he would recognize anywhere. Somehow, even with his curse, he had found Akane. He stopped and closed his eyes, for once grateful for the curse that took him away from his goal, the Tendo home.

He opened his eyes and gave himself a moment to just take her in. It had been so long since he had seen her and he realized how much he missed the sight. She was just as beautiful as he remembered.

So, enraptured by the sight of her, it took him a moment to realize that she looked...confused and sad. Her shoulders were slumped, her head was angled down, her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. It was then that he remembered why he was chasing her. When he realized that look on her face was caused by him. He swallowed hard.

He approached her slowly, and when he was a few feet away, he said tentatively, "Akane?"

She whipped her head up and he was pinned by the look in her eyes.

As P-Chan, he had been her confidant and thus knew her moods and her facial expressions. He had never seen her face so full of pain and betrayal before and he felt his heart ache.

A moment later her eyes turned hard and she spoke to him in a tone he'd never heard from her before.

"Hello, P-Chan," she said, growling out the last part.

He cringed at the tone in her voice.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Akane. It's not...it's not what it looks like."

Her eyes narrowed as she said, "It's not? You haven't been pretending to be my pet? You haven't been lying to me ever since you met me?"

"No...yes...It didn't mean..." he stammered before he threw his arms up and finally yelled in frustration, "It was all Ranma's fault!"

The comment made her wince. Ranma knew. Of course he knew. She had just come to the conclusion when Ryoga found her. And now, it felt like the pig was throwing it in her face. She pushed aside the pain. She would deal with it and Ranma later, but for now, she had to deal with Ryoga.

"And how was it his fault?"

"When he failed to show up for our fight, I went in search of him and I followed him all the way to China. I was standing on a ledge looking around when suddenly a panda and a redheaded girl came by and knocked me off the cliff! I fell into one of the pools and came out as a pig! You wouldn't believe how many times I've almost been eaten because of this damn curse! It was his fault I was in China in the first place, then I found out that he was the one who actually knocked me off that cliff! None of this would have happened if he just showed up for that damn fight!"

That explains so much, Akane thought.

When Ryoga had shown up in Nerima he was very mad at Ranma but his anger always seemed bigger than anything that could have come from a bread feud, but she never knew what it was. Now it made sense.

"When did you find out that it was Ranma that knocked you off the cliff?"

"That first night I came to your house. I was trying to fight Ranma and got hit by a dumbbell and was turned into...somehow I ended up in your house and when you told Ranma to..." Ryoga cleared his throat, "to give me a bath, I got changed back. He told me while we were in the bathroom."

Akane closed her eyes as her heart thumped painfully in her chest at his words. Ranma had known since the very first moment that she decided to keep P-Chan as a pet and had kept it a secret the entire time.

Why? Why did he keep this a secret from her?!

"I only went with you because it seemed to make Ranma mad! I didn't go into your house trying to be your pet, honest."

"But you decided to pretend to be my pet to piss Ranma off?" she spat at him.

"NO! No! It wasn't like that. You were just so...good to me. You just cared about me so much. I fell in love with you."

Akane's eyes widened in surprise.

Love? Ryoga loved her? Ryoga was in love with her? How had she not known? She had thought that maybe he had a crush on her, but love?

Feeling embarrassed at his admission, Ryoga continued quickly, "And Ranma knew how I felt! He used it to taunt me during our fights! He knew and he would call me P-Chan in front of you, just to distract me!"

All the new information whirling in her head just lead to more questions. But there was one question that repeated itself more than the others.

"Why didn't Ranma tell me about your curse?"

"I...I don't know why. I don't know why he helped me hide the truth from you. Maybe so he could continue to taunt me with the information. He knew I couldn't stand the possibility that he would tell you. Ranma would use any advantage he could get in a fight!"

The memory of Ranma catching Ryoga right before he fell into a fountain then him teasing the pig boy flashed into her mind. Akane felt another stab of pain in her chest. Not only had Ranma known about the secret from the beginning - and didn't tell her - but he actively helped Ryoga keep the secret.

He had purposefully deceived her for years.

But other memories came to her. Of her beloved pig biting Ranma. At the time she had thought Ranma must have had been taunting her pet but now she wondered if Ryoga had bit her fiancé on purpose to annoy him.

Targeting her anger at the boy in front of her, she asked, "And you never used your curse to bait him? You never picked a fight with him as P-Chan to get him into trouble?"

"No!" When her eyes narrowed in anger, he amended his answer. "Maybe?" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I never told you about the curse. But I was afraid. I thought you would laugh at me and I...cared about you too much. "

Akane scoffed and said skeptically, "You cared about me."

"Yes! I tried my best to be there for you. To protect you, even when I was in my other form!"

She laughed humorlessly.

"Protect me? Protect me from what?"

"From Ranma! He always mistreated you! Always teased you! He was always running around with the other girls! He was leading you all on!"

"This isn't about him! This is about you! What you did! It's you I should have been protected from! You, who used your status as my pet to get closer to me. To sneak into my bed!" She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "Tell me, did it feel good snuggled up against me? Did you like it when I held you against my chest? Did you get off on it?" she asked sneeringly.

"No, it wasn't like that. I mean yes it felt good but not in the way you think. I just liked the affection."

When Akane only continued to stare at him, he began to sweat. He really wanted to believe that what he said was true. In his mind he was the good guy, the hero. But while he may have occasionally had a pig's body, his mind was one hundred percent teenage male. And Akane, Akane was to him, perfection.

How could he not have enjoyed being pressed against her full, firm breasts? Or snuggled up with her under her blankets, surrounded by her wonderful sweet scent? Or the feel of her lips pressed against his head?

He then admitted to himself what he had long tried to deny. Just the memory alone made him feel hot, causing his face to turn red.

Which only caused Akane to narrow her eyes at him.

"For some reason, I don't believe you."

Ryoga just looked at her with pained eyes, unable to defend himself.

"You know what the worst part of this whole thing is? I thought you were my friend. I trusted you. I knew that you and Ranma didn't get along and I defended you."

Akane closed her eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. She would not embarrass herself by crying. She would not.

"Akane, I don't know what else I can say. I'm sorry. I really am. I never meant to hurt you."

"Well, it doesn't matter what you planned because you did hurt me." Akane took a deep breath and looked Ryoga straight in the eyes, "I don't forgive you and I never want to see you again."

The blue-haired girl watched as his head dropped to the ground, his shoulders hunched and his aura turned black. She knew that intentionally or not, Ryoga was about to perform the Shishi Hokodan. She had no idea how bad this would be, but if he did love her like he claimed, it could cause a lot of damage.

She walked in front of him and quickly grabbed his forearm with both hands before she pivoted so she was standing in front of him and threw him over her shoulder, sending him flying into the pond. She walked to the edge of the pond, crouched down and waited. P-Chan popped up, his little legs moving wildly as he tried to swim back towards the edge of the pond, the sounds of his squeals mixed with the water splashing around him. She reached down and plucked him out by his bandana and brought him to eye level.

She took a good look at her "pet." The round squishable body that had comforted her. The little ears that had listened to her problems. The back of the neck she liked to scratch because it made him squeal in delight. And the eyes. The eyes that always seemed so understanding. But now she recognized as too human.

Unable to look at the little pig any longer, she took a step back and wound her arm around in a large circle, letting the pig go at the apex of her swing. She watched as Ryoga flew away and disappeared into nothing more than a dot in the horizon.

It was then that she said goodbye to her P-Chan. Goodbye to her faithful pet and confidant. She reached up to wipe away the single tear that slipped past her guard.

Ranma was running around Nerima, agitated. He had not yet found his fiancée whom he had been looking for since he left school. He had gone home, then to the park, then to school, and at this point he had no idea where he was going, he just knew he had to move. He was more frustrated in not finding Akane than he was worried about how she felt.

Where the hell is she? he thought with a growl. He stopped. He just wanted to find her, was that too much to ask for? But running around aimlessly was not going to help him. He ran his hands over his face as he realized he had no idea where to look next. Waiting was never his strong suit, especially when it came to Akane and he had to do something.

He would find her and explain and apologize. She would probably hit him and yell at him for a little while. He winced at the thought; it was not something he was looking forward to. But Ranma Saotome faced his problems head on. Even if it was an angry fiancée who could twist his body into a pretzel.

Once she let out some of her frustrations, she would probably still be upset but she would forgive him. It was one of those things he had learned over the years, Akane was quick to temper, quick to forgive. So it was best to find her and get it over with, kind of like ripping a band-aid off quickly. It would hurt but then it would be over.

He decided to head back home, hoping that she would be there. When he entered the grounds he heard a familiar sound of bricks being pulverized from the dojo. He sighed in relief at finally finding Akane and tensed at the same time, knowing that she only broke bricks when she was really upset. He peeked into the open screen doors and found her setting up another stack of cinder blocks and could not fail to notice the destroyed pile surrounding her. He watched her silently, not knowing how to approach her.

"I know you're there, Ranma," she said, her back still towards him.

She had been sad, incredibly sad after her confrontation with Ryoga. But her sadness had lasted only a short while before the anger pushed through. But she was okay with it as anger was a much more familiar emotion for her. So she clung to it while she could, knowing the sadness would come back soon and she would have to deal with it, whether she was ready for it or not.

Along with the anger was the overwhelming need to hit something. Anything. So she headed home, jumped through her bedroom window, bypassing her family that she was not yet ready to deal with. She had changed quickly, jumped back out, and headed straight to the dojo. She knew she would not be bothered there as Ranma was the only other person in the house who used the dojo regularly.

She had only gone through a few stacks of cinder blocks when she felt like she was being watched. Over the last week, she had become so used to Ranma that she could sense him without the need to turn around. She settled herself before speaking and finally turned around and looked at him.

He was just standing there awkwardly, looking at her. He looked pained and uncomfortable and an ugly part of her was glad for it. It may have been small of her but for once she didn't care.

It was taking everything Akane had to remain calm. After the incident with Nabiki lying to her about Ranma and his date with Ukyo, she had promised herself that she would always hear Ranma out. That she would give him a chance to explain himself before she jumped to conclusions about him. And there were plenty of thoughts running through her head.

Ranma waited, expecting an outburst and her anger but was only greeted by a steely stare. He looked into her eyes and couldn't read them. They had none of the warmth in them that he had gotten used to in the last week. It unnerved him so much that he didn't notice how tightly her jaw was clenched or how her raw knuckles had become white from the way she clenched her hands. He cleared his throat, hoping that would help him find his voice.

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"I'm sorry you found out like that."

"How should I have found out?"

"I-I should have told you myself. But you gotta understand, I had a reason!"

Akane just looked at him, waiting for him to continue. She was clenching her teeth together so tightly her jaw was beginning to hurt but she was determined to hear him out. She wanted, no needed to know all of it.

When his fiancée just looked at him unflinchingly, Ranma began to sweat. He really didn't know what to make of Akane. Why was she so calm? Why was she just standing there? He realized that he couldn't dwell on it because she was still waiting for him to answer.

"It was my fault that Ryoga got cursed. Do you remember that night he came to fight me? I realized then that he must have a Jusenkyo curse and when I found the neighbor's dog, I thought it was Ryoga. I made him a promise then to keep his secret. Even though I made the promise to the dog, I meant it and I planned to keep it. When you asked me to give the little pig you found a bath, I discovered the pig was Ryoga. He told me then that it was a red-headed girl chasing a panda that sent him over the cliff...the guilt I felt in having a part in his curse...well, I couldn't break the promise then, could I?"

"I remember that night, I remember it clearly." She didn't say that she remembered all the times they spent together because she thought about them so often afterwards. "When I told you I was going to keep Ryoga as a pet, you got really jealous. I didn't understand it then..."

She trailed off as her thoughts jumbled. She always thought it was important to keep your word and she liked that Ranma always tried to keep his. He was so unlike his father in that way and she respected him for it. She did. A person's word should mean something.

"I understand you wanted to keep your promise. But if your promise was that you wouldn't tell his secret, why did you help him hide it from me?"

"What? I don't know what you mean."

Her eyes narrowed as she said angrily, "Oh, I think you do. There were times when Ryoga could or would have fallen into water in front of me but you helped him. You helped him! Why?"

"I..."

Akane closed her eyes and shook her head when it became apparent he had no answer. Or at least no answer he was willing to give her.

"Who else knew?"

"What?"

"Who else knew about Ryoga's curse?" she ground out.

"All of the people with Jusenkyo curses know about each other. So, Mousse, Taro..."

"Did Shampoo know?" she demanded.

Confused as to why it mattered, he said, "Yeah she knew. So did Cologne."

"Shampoo knew," she stated tonelessly.

Akane let out a humorless laugh and started to pace as her mind raced as the implications came to her. There was so much that seemed obvious now that she knew truth. She started speaking, talking more to herself than to him.

"I always thought that it was her, that she was so obsessed in her focus on you and fulfilling that stupid kiss of marriage. After that incident with the jewel I couldn't blame her for clinging to the idea that you would pick her. Not with the way you chased after her. But it was more than that.

"I don't think she ever saw me as a real threat or thought that you were ever interested me as more than an obligation. Because if you really cared for me, if you really lo…wanted me, then you wouldn't have kept Ryoga's curse a secret. If you cared, you wouldn't have allowed him to use me like that."

Ranma stared at her, shocked. He had never considered the possibility that his lack of action could have been taken as a lack of caring. He actually never knew why Shampoo or Cologne hadn't busted him about keeping Ryoga's curse a secret. He was just grateful that they had.

"Did Ukyo know?"

"Ukyo? I..." He stopped as he really had to think about it. He had not told her about the secret but that didn't mean she didn't learn about it from someone else. "No, I don't think so."

Akane turned her back towards him. That simple act made him feel completely shut out. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. What was there to say to her about that? But he had to say something. He felt like he was losing her. He had to do something, say something to get her to understand his feelings.

"'Kane, I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry! You gotta know how I feel about you. You gotta know that I...that I...lo..."

She whipped her head up, her eyes popped open, as she turned on him. "Stop! Just stop before you say anything more."

Ranma flinched at the tone and stared, stunned. He was finally going to tell her how he felt and she didn't want to hear it. No, that couldn't be right. Maybe, she just didn't understand what he was going to say. He needed her to understand. He reached out to grab her hand and was surprised when she pulled back from him, putting both her hands up in front of her in a motion to keep him away from her.

His eyebrows furrowed as he was overtaken by confusion and pain. He had grown so used to being able to touch her over the past week. Whether it be to kiss her, to give her a hug, or simply to hold her hand. It was surprising how quickly he got used to being able to simply reach out and touch her. The simple intimacy of the contact between them meant so much to him.

And now she rejected it. Rejected him.

"I need...need to think."

Without another word she walked out of the dojo.

When the family gathered for dinner, it was obvious to everyone that there was something wrong between Ranma and Akane. They had so far enjoyed a week free of fights, emotional outbursts, and chaos. It had been a lovely week but they all knew it was too good to last.

Soun sighed heavily to himself. He had thought that finally the pair seemed to come to some sort of understanding. Even though they had not made any announcements to the family about a change in their relationship, it had been quite obvious to him that something had changed between them. He hoped that despite their unwillingness to get married, they had finally accepted their engagement, that they would finally stop fighting it.

The tension emanating from the pair was worrisome to Nodoka, who had enjoyed the subtle byplay between them over the past week. She hadn't missed the glances they gave each other when they thought no one was looking. Or the small smiles those looks caused that they couldn't quite hide. Just like she couldn't miss the stiff postures as they sat next to each other now. The way Akane had barely taken a bite of her food or the worried glances Ranma kept sending her way.

Although she was a relative new comer to the dynamics at the table, Nodoka knew that the rest of the family had kept quiet because they were not sure how to handle the loud silence coming from the pair. She didn't think anyone wanted to wind up as collateral damage due to speaking out and inadvertently hitting a sore spot, since no one knew what the fight was about, and there was no doubt there had been an argument between them. But the silence and tension was beginning to feel oppressive, so she cleared her throat and tried to engage them in conversation.

"Ranma, how was your day today?"

"Umm, it was...umm. Fine."

She was discouraged when her son had barely raised his head to answer her question and had looked right back down to his bowl. Disappointed but undaunted, she tried a different approach.

"Akane, how was school today?"

The blue-haired girl looked up at the sound of her name and shook her head a little as she tried to clear her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Auntie, I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

"How was school today, dear?"

"School? Oh, it was fine."

Akane gave Nodoka a small smile. Beside her, she felt Ranma stiffen.

"I got my history test back, and I got an A. We learned a new equation in math, which was kind of hard, but I think I got it down. We played softball again in PE and my team won."

She looked around the table and then added in a casual voice like she just remembered, "Oh, and I found out that Ryoga has a Jusenkyo curse which turns him into a black piglet, which I had unknowingly adopted and kept as my pet pig P-Chan for almost two years."

She was suddenly surrounded by complete silence, as even Genma had stopped eating. She looked around the table and saw shocked looks on Nodoka, Kasumi, and Nabiki's faces. She felt a moment of relief that Nabiki seemed honestly surprised at the information. She had wondered if any of the family had known the secret and she was dreading the idea that her middle sister had known. It wouldn't have surprised her to learn that Nabiki could have kept the secret from her. But since their blow out a few weeks ago, they had gotten closer and she didn't want to think that her sister would keep the secret from her now.

She looked towards her father and the little relief she felt over Nabiki was completely lost when she saw the guilty look on his face. Her stomach dropped when she saw him share a look with Genma. She closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath.

Akane knew that Mr. Saotome had known about the curse, Ranma had told her as much. She wasn't surprised that the Saotome patriarch would have kept the secret from her because his morals were loose and his main goal had always been to unite the schools. A goal he shared with her father. The two best friends were as thick as thieves, an apropos analogy as they had stolen together in the past. They had plotted and planned to get their children married and she began to wonder if her father had also known about the curse. She had thought it impossible that he would treat her like that, that he could be so cruel to his own daughter. But now she knew she was wrong.

"Oh, daddy. You knew, didn't you?" she asked in a small voice.

The shock left Kasumi and Nabiki's faces as they turned to their father. Kasumi's face showed sadness and then disappointment as she said, "Oh, father. How could you?"

Next to her, Nabiki looked furious. "You knew that P-Chan was Ryoga the whole time and you didn't tell us? Akane kept him in her room. She slept with him in her bed! How could you let that happen?"

"I...I didn't...I mean, the boy didn't do any harm! He was in his pig's form for heaven's sake. There was no way he was going to take advantage of her in that form!"

Nabiki stared at him incredulously and said, "You can't be serious. He was in her room all the time. He could have been there while she was changing! Watching her! That PIG could have followed her into the bath! He didn't need to touch her to violate her!" Her eyes were blazing and her chest heaving by the end of her tirade.

How could her father be so stupid?

Soun flinched slightly at the tone and the accusation. But he paled when he thought about what she had said. He hadn't ever thought about it in that way.

"Father, why did you keep it a secret from her?" Kasumi asked in her quiet way, her eyebrows furrowed in distress.

"Well...the boy, I mean the pig, just walked in on me while I was soaking in the furo and jumped in. I was shocked when Ryoga popped up suddenly and just walked out of the bath! I didn't know what to do."

Soun lit a cigarette with a shaky hand as he continued his explanation. He completely missed Genma was trying to signal him with his eyes. He took a deep puff and exhaled a stream of smoke before continuing.

"After my soak, I talked it over with Saotome and we both thought that we should keep the information to ourselves as it seemed to make Ranma jealous when P-Chan was..."

Soun trailed off as he realized that he was being glared at by Nabiki and Kasumi.

Kasumi of all people!

He looked over and realized that Nodoka was giving Genma a rather dangerous look. He gulped as he slumped his shoulders at the looks coming from his two eldest daughters.

"Father, how could you?" Kasumi asked again, disappointment dripping from her tone.

He risked a glance towards Akane and what he saw her in her eyes caused his heart to break. She looked so hurt. So disappointed.

"Akane..."

She turned her head away from him, got up and walked out of the room without another word.

A/N: I know that this chapter doesn't address all the issues between Ranma and Akane, but rarely in life does everything that needs to be said gets out during the first confrontation. Their feelings and thoughts will be addressed in the next chapter, so hang in there.

Ryoga will be out of the story for now. I know that he is a fan favorite but I don't find him particularly likeable and I find it difficult to get into his head. As mentioned when I got rid of Shampoo, I will be giving the rivals attention based on how much a threat they are to the R&A relationship. Ryoga was never a threat because Akane was never interested in him. His secret and the keeping of the secret was the only real threat to their relationship. Ranma's jealousy over Ryoga was much of his own doing.

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful reviews! When I started this story I didn't know if people would like it at all, but to get over 300 reviews is more than I could have hoped for. Shout out to kinkgodl64 (who I think is actually linkgold64) for being my 300th review!

Big props to alwaysZutarian for her awesome betaing skills! Her suggestions made this chapter so much better!

Original Publication Date: January 19, 2015

Revised: June 9, 2015