OH, HOW I WISH IT COULD BE SO, BUT ALAS, THESE CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME NOR AM I AUTHORIZED TO MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THEIR EXISTENCE. THEY BELONG TO TAKAHASHI-SAMA AND HER COLLEAGUES. FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP HER OR PAY THE PRICE OF HAVING TO ENDURE ANIME THAT STINKS AS A RESULT OF NOT PAYING YOUR DUES TO THE GREAT ONE!

Umm- I, uh… umm… heh, I have absolutely no idea where that came from. Anyways, enjoy chapter 3… (I must lay off the Mountain Dew [which I also don't own] a little bit… I'm starting to get weird.)

Apology Chapter 3

Ranma ½ Fanfiction

By

FrictionX42

It's early morning in the Tendou household. Birds are chirping, the fish are leaping, Kasumi is getting ready to go shopping for materials for breakfast, and Ranma is sneaking back to his room from Akane's window. Except for the last part, it is a perfectly normal early Sunday morning for the Nerima district.

Also not normal: Nabiki woke up early. She was trying to figure out what it was that made the air seem so lucrative overnight. There was the smell of secrets being kept, but she wasn't sure about exactly what sort of secrets there were, nor who was keeping them. She checked the household security system briefly, noting with interest that there was activity on the rooftops late last night, and also early this morning. She checked the videotapes, but last night had been a new moon and there hadn't been enough light to discern exactly what was going on. Nabiki swore under her breath; she had intended to get the cameras with passive light amplification, but the budget had been too tight, and she had needed a new suit last month for a business meeting.

She also noticed that there had been activity at Kasumi's window shortly before midnight last night. She furrowed her brow in wonder and peeked at the video camera footage for that side of the house. Luckily, there was a streetlight nearby, so Nabiki could easily make out what had occurred. Noting a young man in a yellow shirt and black pants with a bandanna tapping on the window, Nabiki sighed. When will that boy get a sense of direction? Nabiki watched as, seconds later, Kasumi's head poked out of the window and she quite cheerfully and nicely gave Ryouga directions to Ranma's window. Nabiki giggled a little, wondering briefly about how much it would cost to get Ryouga set up with a hand-held GPS system with direction-giver on it. The idea was tempting, but Ryouga was a man who didn't have a lot of money. Nabiki wasn't about to offer him a loan- not even a small one. There was no promise of getting paid on time due to his aforementioned complete lack of navigational talents. Well, I guess that answers the question of who was up on our roof last night anyways, but I could have sworn there was something else going on…Oh well. I guess he never found what he was looking for because he never fought Ranma.

Nabiki yawned deeply; stretching her body till she fully awakened, and her nostrils caught the savory aroma of Kasumi's cooking. Nothing like a breakfast made by Kasumi to start a day off right, Nabiki thought to herself, just so long as Akane's not 'helping' her…

Ranma fell asleep again shortly after returning to his bed, his father's snores helping him drift off to sleep as Ranma idly remarked to himself that Akane's snores were much cuter. He was still asleep when his father awoke to the smells of Kasumi's culinary skill wafting from the kitchen. Genma got up so quickly that he tripped over Ranma's sprawling form and landed flat on his face. Darn it Ranma, I'll have you sleeping in Akane's room by the end of the summer! The idea cheered him almost as much for the thought of his son and Tendou's daughter finally becoming united as it did to have Ranma out of the room so that he could make his way to the door each morning without tripping over him. He'd plan that with Tendou later; it was too good of an idea to pass up, and he was sure that he or Tendou would think of something to make it work…

Soun was already seated at the breakfast table with his newspaper in hand when Nabiki and Saotome arrived downstairs, Nabiki taking her time and in no rush, while Saotome shot downstairs in his usual mealtime enthusiasm. He noted a gleam in Saotome's eyes that could only mean one thing: he had a plan. Soun felt his own enthusiasm rise; it had been so long since Genma and he had tried to join their children in holy matrimony- almost a whole day. It had been far too long to give Ranma and Akane a rest from their duties as upholders of the school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts…

Breakfast came and went rather uneventfully: Genma ate everything that was put in front of him, then all of Ranma's food and asked for seconds on both; Soun studied the newspaper; and Genma collected fifty yen from Nabiki when Ranma didn't come down as soon as the smell from Kasumi's cooking woke him up. Nabiki scowled as she handed it over, it should have been a sure bet. No one thought to ask what was going on or why neither Akane nor Ranma showed up for breakfast, and even Kasumi wasn't overly worried: after all, Ranma had probably fought with Ryouga last night and Akane was most likely sleeping in since it was Sunday. It was best that they not be bothered, and everyone had just let them sleep. It made for a much quieter morning, anyway, and Kasumi wasn't about to ruin it by waking up those two.

After breakfast, Soun and Genma sat down at the shogi board as usual, playing and plotting to bring their children together. Actually, Soun was doing most of the plotting, and Genma was taking advantage of his inattention to move pieces around as he saw fit, to remove Soun's pieces, and to engineer his wins without Soun noticing a single move. It was a very good day for Genma. He won three out of five games.

Nabiki rounded a few of her friends together for a little shopping spree. Her instincts were telling her that, contrary to her previous assumption, summer vacation might turn out rather lucrative after all…

Ranma groped around in the dark. He was in his bed, he could tell, but something was missing and he couldn't fall asleep, even though he was really sleepy. Staying up and talking to Akane late last night had exhausted him, but no matter how he turned, he just could not get comfortable. He finally figured it out. His arm was supposed to be around something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. He'd never slept that way before, but sure enough, that was what needed to happen. He tried putting his pillow there, but that didn't work, and he didn't have anything else to try. So he tossed and turned restlessly as he tried to fall asleep, visions of Akane swimming in his mind.

Akane wasn't getting any sleep at all. She was so tired, but she just couldn't seem to get to sleep. Thoughts of Ranma kept flooding into her mind, disturbing any peace and quiet she had managed to grasp. She moved her hand over to where Ranma had been until only a little while ago. The bed was still warm where he had been. Akane sighed deeply. Now what was she going to do? She and Ranma couldn't hide from their feelings any more, but she didn't want to tell anyone else. Nabiki would do something she was sure, but she wasn't certain if it would be good or bad. It would make it harder for her to make money off of them, but maybe, just maybe, her sisterly love would kick in and she would help. Yeah, and she might give all her money to charity, too. So Nabiki was out of the question, maybe Kasumi… no, not Kasumi, she might tell father, and then all hell would break loose as he tried to get them to marry again. Her friends at school were pretty frequent gossips, so that was out. Maybe she could tell Dr. Tofu! No, he was too close to Kasumi, and might feel the need to congratulate her father. Plus, she still felt… kind of uncomfortable around him. Not the way she used to, but certainly a little nervous. That left only P-Chan, but she hadn't seen him in weeks. No matter, she would tell him when he showed up. She just hoped he was ok…

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to find his way. Ryouga stalked the streets of some Nerima, a pale shadow of a man, searching for his hated enemy, the vile Saotome. Even Kasumi had given him bad directions. Ranma had turned the hearts of everyone against him. Even Akane had turned away from him and had been willing to marry Ranma. Curse that damn bastard! Ryouga had screamed that in his head at least a hundred times that day. The sky was dark and stormy, but had not begun raining yet. Ryouga groaned aloud everything was against him. At least he hadn't had to see the wedding completed, since Ukyo and Shampoo had destroyed it before it could finish. So they weren't married yet, but Ryouga knew it was only a matter of time before he completely tainted Akane by his perverted ways and disgusting habits. He had to save Akane, somehow. But to do that, he had to beat Ranma, and that was nearly impossible. I'd better start training extra hard right now if I'm going to beat Ranma in time. And with that, Ryouga started running for the wilderness that served as his training ground.

A few hours later, Ryouga stopped running and looked around him to see where he had ended up. It was a small suburb, with nice houses and no distinguishable landmarks. It was overcast, and the day was cool despite it being summer. Good; Ryouga thought, maybe I can get in some good training here… He stopped in shock as he saw a signboard in front of a local dojo. It read "Tendou School Of Anything-Goes Martial Arts" in fanciful kanji. Ryouga threw his head back and screamed, demanding of the heavens, "HOW CAN THINGS POSSIBLY GET ANY WORSE!?" The sky replied with a flash of lightning and promptly began raining on him.