A/N: This is not a sad fic; this is dramatic and romantic. Everyone is alive and happy. So read it without any fear.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 ..


Ranma splashed some cold water over his face and eyes. He was feeling exhausted; his body aching from all the extra classes he had to take during this summer holidays. But no matter how tired he may feel at the end of the day, he has to come home and start working on making dinner for himself and his wife. He is in a very rush today, because he is late.. extremely late!! He is sure his wife would be hungry and he knows how angry and fussy she becomes when she is hungry. He didn't even inform her about the fact that he would be late today. If he had notified her then she might have arranged a takeout for both of them.

He sighed tiredly and puts some more cold water on the back of his neck as the sudden headache threatened to appear again. After he felt a little bit of relief, he hurriedly busied himself to make a shortcut dinner for the night. He didn't dare to call for his wife, fearing how she would react. His plan is to prepare the dinner first , then he will call for her to come down and eat.

With his ultimate speed and amazing cooking skills, he quickly made a delicious meal for both of them. His tummy growling noisily, reminding him of how hungry he is feeling at that moment. He never tests a single bite of food before he sees his tomboy eating first, it has become his habit now. He doesn't know how that started, but in his seven years of married life with her, he never once had a bit of food without her. She has successfully spoiled him…

With a satisfied sigh and strained smile, he carefully took the dishes to the living room area as he carefully set the table for them. He sat on the ground and proceeded to call out to his precious irate wife,

" Akane !!... Hey 'Kane, come down quick!!"

No answer*

"Dinner is ready!! If ya don't hurry up it will get cold!"

Silence*

"Babe's, Sorry for being late, …Now please come, I am extremely hungry!!"

No response * Few moments later*

"Akane!! Hey tomboy!!!"

He grumbled moodily and called out angrily again,

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! I SAID I AM SORRY!! I AM HUNGRY!!"

Silence…*

"AKANE!!... HEY AKANE…AKA…"

His voice caught in his throat as suddenly reality hits him hard. Suddenly, his surroundings have become dead silent. He sat there with his eyes wide and emotionless, as he blankly kept looking at their untouched food. Suddenly the house and everything around him had become dark and cold… The silence became so thick that he could clearly hear the sound of water droplets coming from the kitchen sink.

Soon he started to feel uncomfortable again... His neck pain returned back to him and breathing became difficult for him again. Suddenly he remembered everything which he had forgotten for some bizarre reason! It didn't take him long to understand that his tired mind had played a trick on him just now, but now, again everything has become clear to him and he remembered, why he is feeling so exhausted, why he is feeling so restless and why he is feeling so……. lonely…

He released a shaky breath as he looked around him .. He started rubbing the back of his neck to release his nervousness. He absentmindedly moved his hand and his hand brushed a hard object. He looked at the object and saw a photo frame.

With his shaky hand, he took hold of the photo frame and looked at it with pitiful eyes. It was a picture of their wedding day. He was possessively holding her closer to him, his eyes staring at her with appreciation and love. Akane had the brightest smile on her face, her face blushing as she softly hugged him by holding his neck , her nose lovingly touching his nose.

For a moment, he forgot his emptiness as he kept looking at the picture. His eyes filled with ushead emotions as he traced the picture frame. He hissed in pain as a sprinkle of glass scraped his finger.. The glass of the frame was broken badly, just like his broken heart.. He tightly gripped the frame as the cause of his broken heart came back to his memory, which happened just five days ago..*


"I just can't believe it!...How….. how could ya do that, Kane?!!"

Akane stood by the living room door with a strong attitude as she looked at him with her hard eyes,

"I haven't done anything wrong, Ranma."

Genma growled loudly as he said in a harsh tone,

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, HUH! YOU SHAMELESS WOMAN!"

"FATHER!" Ranma sent him a warning look as he said in a low tone, "She is my wife... Don't Talk to her like that!"

"You are stopping me, my boy!! I just can't believe it! After what she did to me!"

"I am here to talk to her about this; and if ya want me ta help then don't interfere, pop!"

Nodoka, who was standing by Akane's side, said in a hesitant tone,

"Ranma.. son, please. Akane hadn't done anything! Please listen…"

"I don't want to hear anything from you!" Ranma said in a harsh tone as to avoid looking at his mother's direction. Then he said in a venom filled tone, "Anyways, it's all yar fault in the first place that this is happening, mother..!"

"Ranma! You have no right to talk to her like that!" Akane said in an angry tone.

"So, ya have all the right to spoil her, then! Who gave ya the right to do that!" Ranma spat out angrily.

Akane took a deep breath and said,

"I have told you multiple times , Ranma…. Me and mother, we haven't done anything wrong!"

Genma couldn't keep his mouth shut anymore as he said in a harsh tone,

"Haven't done anything wrong! Have ya lost your mind , Akane? You are helping my wife to date another guy, and YOU ARE SAYING YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!! I WISH YAR FATHER HADN'T GONE TO ANY COUNCIL MEETING! IF HE SAW YA DOING THIS HE WOULD HAVE TO DIE OUT OF SHAME!! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT DISGRACE FOR THIS FAMILY!"

"FATHER! I am talking to her! Don't say a word!" Ranma said in a hard tone. He then shifted his heated eyes towards Akane as he firmly asked her,

"Just tell me one thing, Akane; whatever pop is saying … is it correct? Are you helping my mother to do such thing?"

Akane took a deep breath and tried to make Ranma understand her situation,

"Ranma, baby please listen to me.. I need to talk to you privately, please let me explain it to you.."

"I JUST WANT ONE ANSWER, AKANE!!" Ranma closed his eyes to calm himself down, then looking at her eyes he asked her again, "Yes ... or no?"

Akane didn't even flinch by his tone, if it's possible, she stood more strongly in front of him as she said with a substantial tone,

"Yes.."

"Ranma,... son please, it's all my fault.. don't blame Akane for anything.. And if you want I.."

Nodoka tried to say but Ranma didn't listen to her. Akane's strong determination and stubbornness had made him even more furious at her.. He hastily went straight towards Akane as he said to her in a hissing tone,

"You know very well that ya have done wrong this time! Ya shouldn't have done that..!"

Akane looked at his eyes and said,

"I know what I did and I haven't done anything wrong, Ranma!"

Ranma grabbed her shoulders and hissed on her face,

"You are helping my mother to have an affair with another guy! Are you forgetting that my father is still alive! HOW DARE YOU! When your father faced the same incident with Miss Hinako , I helped you guys to break them apart!! And now you want my mother and father to have a separation!! YOU WANT TO RUIN THEIR MARRIAGE!!"

"The situation is not the same, Ranma! You can't compare that to this!"

"YOU HAVE LOST YOUR MIND, AKANE! STOP BEING SO STUBBORN FOR A SECOND, DAMN IT!!"

Ranma lost his cool and yelled at her face. Akane got angry at his outburst , but decided to not lose her anger as she said as calmly as possibly,

"Ranma, I will explain to you everything. But you need to calm down first and talk to me decently.."

"YOU WANT ME TA CALM DOWN!!" Ranma yelled in frustration. He pulled his hands from her shoulder and asked her in a harsh tone, "Apologize to my father right now and you have to promise me that you won't repeat your mistake again.."

"I said I haven't made any mistakes, Ranma! And I won't apologize to anyone!!"

"YA HAVE TA APOLOGIZE TO HIM RIGHT NOW!!"

"I AM NOT GOING TO APOLOGIZE TO HIM AT ANY COST!"

"AKANE!!!!"

His patience fully destroyed, Ranma screamed her name furiously and this time, his tone was so vociferous that it shook Akane badly as she got scared of him for the very first time. Ranma noticed her surprised expression as she looked at him in disbelief. Her pain filled eyes made him even more furious! He never thought he would ever talk to Akane like this. He loves her so much; but how can he accept the fact that she is trying to hook up his mother with another guy! He just wanted her to apologize and ask for forgiveness from his father for what she did. But she was still acting stubbornly as she always does and making it hard for him to control his anger. He got disappointed at himself for yelling at her and scaring her like that! He became so frustrated that he couldn't control himself and in his desperation to vent out his frustration on something, he growled loudly and blindly took the first object that came to his hand and threw it on the floor.

The loud smashing sound ended all the arguments. Ranma looked down at the broken object and realized his mistake; but it was too late.

Akane became completely speechless. She silently went to that corner and kneeled down to pick up the photo frame, which holds the precious memories of their wedding day..

Nodoka get enough of Ranma's behavior, she hastily went to his side and forced him to look at her as she began to scold him,

"Stop acting like your father, Ranma! How could you break that frame! Akane asked you to listen to her! You have to let her explain everything first!"

"Explain to him what huh! About what you have been playing behind my back!" Genma said with gritted teeth.

Nodoka helplessly held onto his arm and said in a begging tone,

"Son, please.. I am sorry.. I apologize to you and your father for what I did and on behalf of Akane too. Please don't argue with your wife, she is innocent! Please don't hurt her feelings anymore. I promise I won't ever meet.."

"Mother please STOP!!" Akane said with a shaky tone as she stood up slowly.

"Akane, don't say a word. Let me handle this matter now.." Nodoka said in a panic tone as she held Ranma's hand.

"You won't say anything anymore , mother..! I have seen enough!" Akane said in a low tone as she slowly walked towards them. She pulled Nodoka's hand from Ranma as she looked at her and said in a strong tone, "You haven't done anything wrong, mother. At first, I wanted to explain everything to him , but he didn't want to listen; and now we don't owe anyone any explanations .."

"Akane, honey.. Please…" Nodoka pleaded with her broken tone.

"Let's go, mother.."

"But.."

Akane shook her head and silently asked her to follow her. Nodoka gave a shaky breath, she nodded her head and started following Akane. They started walking out of the house, hand in hand, but before they could leave Ranma called out to them in a panicky tone to stop them from leaving,

"WHERE DO YA THINK YA ARE GOING, HUH?!"

Akane stopped walking but didn't turn to answer him.

"Let them leave, my boy.." Genma came beside Ranma and said in a hard tone, "Who needs them anyways! The amount of prize money you won on that last tournament you can buy two dojos with that! And if you still call your other fiancés they would come crawling to you! We will send both of them divorce letters at once! Let them go.."

Ranma angrily turned and glared at him and spat at him,

"You damn old man, have ya lost yar mind!"

Ranma panickingly turned around to talk to Akane, but when he looked back, that place was empty and no one was standing on the entrance anymore. He growled angrily and cried out,

"DON'T YA GET TIRED OF RUINING MY LIFE, OLD MAN! NOW GO BACK TO YAR SAOTOME HOUSE AND LEAVE ME ALONE..!!"

Ranma knew Akane won't take the last encounter lightly. He knows she would be very angry at him and when she becomes angry, she doesn't think clearly at all. But he can't let her run away at this late hour like this, he won't get any rest until he finds out where she is going at this time. He quickly ran out from the house and started looking for them.

He quickly found them and saw them heading towards Tofu and Kasumi's house. He hopped up at a nearby tree to trace them clearly, unnoticed. He saw his mother knocking on the door and after a long moment of waiting, Tofu finally opened the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily. His sleepiness was gone within a second as he saw Akane and Nodoka at his door. But before Tofu could ask any of them their reason for coming, he saw Akane wrapping her arms around Tofu as she broke down into tears.

He could hear her sobs from the tree above from where he was hiding.. His heart squeezed with her every sob, his heart throbbing hard in desperation to hold her closer to him, to make her stop crying. But he didn't give in to his urge, he looked down and held the branch hard to prevent himself from going towards them. He is still hurt by what she did and her stubbornness to accept her fault has made him even more stubborn to make her accept her fault. Years later, he again felt his pride and stubbornness returning to him as he decided not to talk to her until she talks to him first. He then heard the sound of the door closing as he looked down and found out that they had entered the house.. He carefully got down from his hiding spot, he gave a last look towards the closed door , sighed and left in silence…*


Tip… Tip.. Tip..*

Ranma tightly closed the water tab and deeply looked at the kitchen sink for no reason. After a few moments, he returned back to the living room and took both plates full of food and placed them inside the fridge. His appetite fully gone.

His whole body was drained and exhausted. The quietness of the house was slaughtering and taunting him mercilessly . His ears are buzzing, visions are blackening. He took support from the stair holder and slowly made his way towards his room. Today, he decided to return back to their bedroom as he kept shifting from one room to another. He didn't dare to enter into their room in these five days! Because, he was scared that he would start missing Akane even more and would give up on apologizing to her first.. But today he couldn't resist his urge to go back to their room, because he is feeling way too restless tonight and his sleepless nights are making him exceptionally weak! The dizziness is feeling for the lack of sleep made him forget about the fact that, that room might hunt him and torture him more if he didn't find Akane there, waiting for him with her open arms and warm smile.

He laid his hand on their bedroom door and sighed, then slowly,hesitantly, he opened the door..

The first thing he noticed when he entered was the neat way his wife had arranged the whole bedroom. She is always so touchy about wanting everything to be nice and clean. The whole room literally smelled like her, so earthy , so fresh, so… intoxicating. That's the only reason why he wanted to ignore coming to this room in the first place, because every part of this room reminds him of her and their beautiful moments together. But he had no choice but to come to this room tonight, because… he is completely exhausted. Four nights in a row, he hadn't been able to sleep a bit. And his sleepless nights are making him tired and frustrated.

In these seven years of marriage with his tomboy, he never left her for more than a day or two! It's not like she stopped him or anything like that; it was just his problem. For some reason, he couldn't stand to be alone ever since he learned to be full and happy while living with his wife. She makes his life so beautiful. No matter how tough the situation they had faced and how exhausted he might have felt while working overtime, she always used to take away all his tiredness and loneliness just by being with him. Her loving touch, her care, he never wanted to lose it! That's why he never left for any long training trip, if necessary, he asked Akane to accompany him on his journey, but he never went alone. It's more like , he needs her more than she does. At first this attitude of him scared him, he thought maybe he was losing his sanity. Then he realized the reality, he has lived alone for so long, since his childhood he never felt loved or secured! He thought he would continue to live like this. But after he met Akane, everything changed! Now he can't seem to be alone at all… But now… he has no other choice but to feel the loneliness again..

He sighs tiredly and slowly walks towards their bed. Lying Down swiftly, he covered himself with a blanket which was not giving him a bit of comfort at all. For an hour he kept tossing and turning on his bed, unable to sleep, unable to calm his restless nerves. He was missing Akane so badly, but now her absence is making him crazy. His need for her doubled up as his necessity to see her made him more depressed. He hastily sat up over his bed , painting uneasily as he began to think about what to do next. His loneliness defeated his stubbornness to win against his wife. He can't take this anymore! He have to do something to make her come back to him! It doesn't matter to him if he needs to apologize to her for this; he would apologize to her thousands of times, he just wants her back to his side and nothing else matters to him anymore.. He quickly reached for this small cell phone and dialed her number to call her.

As he thought, she wasn't responding to his call; that's the only reason why he hadn't called her before , because he knew she would ignore him. After multiple call attempts he gave up on calling her. He checked the time and noticed it was past midnight. He damn cared about time and decided to call at Tofu's clinic. The phone kept ringing with no response at first , but at his third attempt though he succeeded as finally someone picked up the call.

"Hello? Dr Tofu's residence.. Can I help you?"

Ranma's heartbeat started beating painfully hard as he heard Akane's soft voice from the phone. His breathing became slow as his need for her became painfully hard.

"Hello? Anyone there.."

That made him respond quickly as he said with his unsteady voice,

"Kane.."

Akane took a sharp breath of surprise as she clutched the phone tightly. Ranma also sighed as he asked her in a shaky tone,

"Kane….. How…. How are.."

"Wrong number..!!"

Akane hung up the phone in a haste ..

"Akane, LISTEN!! Akane!?"

Ranma could swear that he had heard her crying over the phone. He got more anxious as he tried to call her again. But there was no response again, but after some time, Tofu picked up the call and asked,

"Hello?"

"Please I need to talk to Akane!"

"Akane?!" Tofu sighed over the phone and said, "Oh so that was you Ranma, sorry, but she doesn't want to talk to you right now. She went back to her room."

"BUT PLEASE TRY TO UNDERSTAND.." Ranma gulped and said in a more calming tone, "Please..please.."

"Ranma, I asked her many times already, now also when I saw her crying; but you know how stubborn she is. Why don't you come early tomorrow morning. I promise I will help you talk to her, okay?"

"Tomorrow morning?" Ranma closed his eyes tightly and breathed frustratedly, then without any more words, he hung up the call…*


Tofu also puts the phone down and shakes his head.

"Honey, is everything alright?" Kasumi said in a concern-filled tone as she walked to his side.

Tofu looked at her and said,

"Hey honey, did I wake you guys up? Sorry.." he said while he creased her belly softly.

Kasumi giggled and said,

"Not you, his kick woke me up.. Anyway, who called at this hour?"

"Ranma.." Tofu said smiling as he helped her to walk to the dining area and made her sit on a chair.

"Ranma? Oh poor thing, how is he doing?"

"He was upset and wanted to talk to Akane. But she didn't want to , so…"

"Oh my, my,my.." Kasumi sighs as she shakes her head.

"Don't worry honey, I asked him to come tomorrow morning and I also told him that I will help him to make up with Akane. Anyway, now that you woke up, mind for a midnight snack?"

Kasumi puts her hand over her moving belly and said giggling,

"Oh my, how can I say no when he is moving like this.."

Tofu laughed softly and gave a soft kiss on her lips. Then after some time, he swiftly prepared a quick snack for both of them.He sat down next to her and puts the plate down on the table.

"Here you go, love, enjoy.."

"Umm.. Should I call Akane too, dear? She hasn't eaten a single bite today.." Kasumi said with a sad tone.

"Is that so? That's not good! But the way I saw her just now, I don't think she would want to eat."

"Oh my, these poor things are actually punishing themselves. I hope everything will be alright.. Ummm, it tastes so good!" She said while biting on to her sandwich.

"Really?" Tofu smirked at her change of mood and was about to bite on his sandwich, when they heard a knock on the back door, which is located at the dining area.

"Oh my! Who that might be? And it's so late too!" Kasumi said with a concern-filled tone.

"Don't worry, honey, I think I know who it might be... let me check first.." Tofu said as he nodded at her and went to the door to unlock it. He opened the door and as he expected, he saw Ranma standing there. Though he was not surprised to see Ranma standing there, he was surprised to see him in this devastated state. He looked fully messed up, his hair messy, his undereye had bags on them, he looked thin and so lifeless. He was brought back from his train of thought when he heard Ranma's shaky tone,

"I am sorry.. But I had no other choice left.. Where is that tomboy?"

Tofu just smiled at him and nodded his head, then let him enter his house.


A/N: I always feel that nobody deserves the life that Nodoka lived! She is so sweet and caring; she deserves love and romance in life too :).. But my main focus will be our couple, and the romance between Ranma and Akane :)..

Honestly, I wanted to make it a oneshot fic; but it's getting too long. I didn't mind though, but yesterday I again started to feel my right arm pain (nerve pain) returning again, which I got as a reward after I finished "Love You again" ;p.. That's why I have decided to give my arm rest today. But don't worry, the second part is almost done and very soon I will post the second part.. Thank you; I hope you enjoyed reading so far!! :)