When Akane got home that evening, Ranma was organizing a ‘Find Akane’ campaign. The girl said goodnight to her guard and approached her house with caution. Ranma had Soun, Genma, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ryoga gathered around the table and was busying himself by making a huge list of all the places she might be. Soun and Genma were crying, more about Ranma’s apparent concern for Akane than for Akane herself. Kasumi watched Ranma dash about the room madly, attempting to organize an uncooperative party of people, and ‘Oh, my’-ed compassionately every now and then. While Nabiki ignored Ranma out of disinterest in the topic, Ryoga ignored him out of bleak depression and self-loathing. Akane had watched Ranma dart about the room for several seconds before he noticed her. At first all he could do was gawk at her, then he got very mad and strode forward with an air of grave importance. Once he reached her, he very stiffly opened his arms…and almost smothered her in an endless hug. Then, after a lifetime of only a few seconds, he held her at arms length and glowered at her.
"You." He accused. "I’ve been looking everywhere for you. And all day, too. Where have you been? I thought you might be hurt, you were gone so long." Akane smiled at him and squeezed the hands still firmly placed on her shoulders.
"I’m sorry I worried you, Ranma. It’s just, I had a lot to think about, and I needed time. Thank you for that, too. And now," she turned to fix a piercing gaze on Ryoga, who shrunk back slightly. Soun and Genma fled shamelessly while Kasumi made an excuse about having to get plenty of sleep and Nabiki proclaimed that she was boarded with the goings on in her house and would be retiring to her room. Akane ignored her family’s leaving and pointed an accusing finger at Ryoga.
"How could you lie to me?" Ryoga gulped.
"I never r-really meant to." He stammered. "It just…happened. You found me in that form and accepted me before I could explain, and I couldn’t bare hurting you with the truth after that."
"Well." She said at that. "You’ve hurt me far worse now. Although," here she paused to grin morbidly at him, "I’ve very little doubt I would have killed you if you’d told me before. You are very lucky I only found out now. That’s not the end of it." She told him sternly as he began to relax. "You still owe me a debt of honor. For all the confidence you’ve betrayed and all the secrets you’ve stolen from me." Ryoga gulped but made no attempt to excuse his behavior further. Whatever he got, he felt he deserved. Akane nodded. "Good. Now, come here, Ryoga." The young Martial Artist complied. Akane Called her sword into existence. Pointing it at him, she made this declaration, "What I desire is for you to never again blame your circumstances or misfortunes on another." Catching the look of confusion, she clarified. "You were late for a match and your opponent left, so it was his fault for not staying. You followed him to China for a revenge that was not yours and were cursed in return for your misguided anger. Again, it was his fault, not yours. You followed further, and everything that happened was his fault because if he had only stayed, none of this would have happened. Then you are found in your cursed form by a girl and accepted by her, and when that boy finds you and saves you from revealing your curse right then and there, you say it is his fault and make him swear an oath of silence for your curse. Further, you do not tell the girl about your curse because, poor you, you don’t want to hurt her. But, oh, if only that boy had shown up to that match, all this would have been spared.
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Ryoga, but if you had taken getting lost and forfeiting the match like a man, none of this would have happened. By blaming your circumstances and misfortunes on Ranma, you made life harder not only for yourself, but for all those around you. How many times have you demolished the property of others because you were mad at Ranma ? One would be too many, but you do it again and again. In reparation for the offenses against myself and others, I desire that you let it go, and accept your wrongs as your wrongs, learn from them, and move on." Ryoga took a long, deep breath with his eyes closed before he could meet Akane’s eyes with his own, but when he did, steel determination shown there.
"I-I have been m-mistaken, Akane. I want to seek your forgiveness and earn your friendship, so I will accept your desire as the honor debt." Here Akane glared at Ryoga. Wincing, he turned to Ranma, and, straining to keep his teeth unclenched, said, "I still owe you an honor debt, though, Ranma. For all my false accusations and also for the unjust silence oath. I- I’m sorry." Ranma blinked, astonished. It was…impossible to believe that it was over, finally. He stared at Ryoga for a few more minutes before saying slowly,
"Thanks for the offer, Ryoga, but I don’t need anything from you. So, let’s just say I was a jerk, too, and forget about it, ok?" Akane sighed and shook her head at Ranma’s comment.
"Ranma, Ranma. You can’t just say ‘thanks but no thanks’ to an honor debt. Refusal is a very great insult. You don’t mean to insult Ryoga, do you?" Ranma winced.
"No." He admitted finally. "That would mean that he has an insult up on me and then he’d have a real reason to hunt me down." He sighed and flapped a hand at Ryoga’s slumped form. "Fine, fine. I accept the honor debt and will tell you when I figure out what I want you to do." The bandannaed head bobbed once. It was either affirmation or deep, deep depression. Most likely, it was a combination of the two. Akane and Ranma watched the depressed martial artist for a few minutes, and then the girl sighed and rested a hand on Ryoga’s shoulder.
"Ryoga," she began, "it’s all right. You made a mistake. It happens to the best of us. Don’t let it ruin your life. Just learn from it and move on. I don’t hold it against you. Ranma doesn’t hold it against you. Everything is going to be fine now." Ryoga looked up at her, and the haunted look there was slightly unnerving.
"How can you say that?" Akane blinked.
"Say what?" Ryoga shrugged and looked back down.
"That every thing is fine. Nothing is fine. I’ve betrayed and hurt you. Nothing will ever be fine again." Akane sighed and kneeled in front of the boy, making him meet her eyes.
"I survived. I might have been really, really mad at you for a while, but I got over it. I know it was hard for you to wait here for me. And I know you never meant to hurt me. I forgive you. Everything is going to be all right, because you learned something from this and I know how to forgive. That’s what matters, right?" Her smile was contagious and Ryoga found himself returning it. He shook his head in amusement.
"I’m still not sure I believe you. And I’m positive that I don’t like being indebted to Ranma. But if that’s what it takes for your forgiveness and friendship, it’s worth it." Akane nodded, and then her smile vanished to be replaced with a serious expression as she remembered something.
"Yes, well. I have something very important to tell the both of you." The two boys looked at each other in confusion and then back at Akane. She stood and fixed them both alternately with a stern gaze. "I can’t tell you how I learned this, or who from, but you two have to know something about my sword. You can’t tell anyone about it. If you do, I’ll be in trouble. Please don’t ask how, but know that I will. In fact, you guys shouldn’t even know about it yourselves. I have to tell Mr. Soatome, Dad, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Alan this, too, so don’t feel singled out." Ranma blinked.
"How will you-" Akane cut him off with a look.
"How will I make Nabiki not tell anyone?" She flashed a smile so devious, the boys both felt sort of sorry for the money grubbing Tendo. Sort of. "Oh," Akane continued in mysterious tones, "I have my ways." She laughed maniacally and left the boys to wonder where she had learned to laugh like that.

~**~

The next morning at breakfast, no one mentioned Ryoga’s presence. Everyone acted normally, save Nabiki, who kept shooting worried looks at Akane, who merely smiled. When Akane announced that she was going to school, no one made any protests. Ranma noticed that his father cringed away from Akane slightly as she passed by him to kiss her quiet father goodbye. The young martial artist grinned.
*Whatever she said to pop last night must’ve been good. * His grin grew. *I wish I could’ve been there! * Ranma got up lazily and trailed Akane as she left the house, with Ryoga following them both.

~**~

The day went normally from there, until the trio arrived at F High School. When they arrived the ‘Akane Lovers Not-Quite-So-Anonymous’ horde had already gathered at the gates. Ryoga blinked; Akane sighed; Ranma swore. He turned to face Akane and pointed at the mass of teenagers.
"I thought these bozos gave up already!" That was answered with a resounding "Never!" from all of the assorted perverts and lechers that had gathered in the vain hope that Akane would be slightly off in her pounding today and one of them might get really, really lucky and land a blow. Even though they all knew hitting their goddess would result in that persons immediate and painful death. Readying themselves, the ALNQSA (acronym for Akane Lovers Not-Quite-So-Anonymous) horde blinked in confusion when, instead of attacking, Akane merely shook her head sadly. Tilting her head slightly, Akane fixed her horde with a large, brown-eyed look of pity.
"Who made you think this way?" They were all, including Ranma and Ryoga, more than slightly confused. She swung her bag, indicating the mass of hormone-ridden boys. "Well, someone made you think that the way to a girl’s heart was through a beating. I was just wondering who it was." All of the boys in the sea of them looked at each other. Ranma and Ryoga looked at Akane. One of the boys, a particularly brave and stubborn one, stepped forward and said,
"Kuno did when he made that speech." Akane looked skeptical. The boy didn’t care; the point was that she was looking at him.
"You guys listen to Kuno? When did this start?" The horde members scowled.
"We don’t listen to Kuno . No one listens to Kuno ." They intoned as one. Akane blinked.
"Oh? Coming out here every day and attacking me just because he made another stupid speech. It sure seems like you’re listening to him" Again the boys all blinked. Akane continued with a shrug. "I always thought you won a girl with roses and poetry. I guess if Kuno says you can win her with brute force , he must be right. What is he an expert on? Shakespeare? Well, then, there you go! Although, I don’t recall Shakespeare ever writing ‘Beatith her down until she canst thinkith for herself, and then she shall in soothe be yours.’ I guess I missed that part." The boys had the courtesy to look slightly ashamed. Akane sighed and put the hand not holding her bag on her hip. She looked slightly annoyed. "Look, it’s too late for any of you to get anywhere with me. Even if I weren’t engaged, you guys have blown for it so long and so badly, I would never date you if you were the last batch of boys in the world. However," she continued when they began looking lost and hopeless, "there are lots and lots of other, just as lovely and a million times more free, girls at this school. Look around! They’ve been waiting for attention for awhile, but if you’re nice, and give them flowers and candy and the things girls like, they might forgive you. Eventually. If you’re lucky. But I’m telling you now: I will not fight you again. I don’t want to. It’s a lose-lose for me. If I win, nothing changes. If I lose, I’m forced on a date. I’m tired of this and it’s got to stop so I’m stopping it. Right now. Get it?" They nodded in unison.
"Got it." She smiled.
"Good. Now, lets all go to class before-"
"In soothe, is that the beautiful tigress, Akane Tendo? Told the others off to be alone with me, I see. Very well, I would date with you!" Akane sighed and shot a ‘why me?’ look to the sky. She lowered her gaze and plastered a sickeningly sweet, plainly fake smile on her face. At least, plainly fake to everyone with half a brain. Which exempted Kuno.
"Ah, the goddess smiles! She finds pleasure enough in my mere presence to smile. I would away with her. Come hither, my fair warrior maiden! I will take you away from the unseemly company you keep." Akane sighed again and glared at Kuno, pointing a finger at him.
"You stay away from me." He blinked.
"The maiden speaks, but makes but little sense. What mean you, fair lady?"
"I mean," she began with exaggerated patience, "that I want you to stay away from me. I’m not your warrior maiden, and I would never go anywhere with you. Ever. For any reason. Give it up and leave me alone." Kuno blinked and then turned to glare at Ranma.
"Foul sorcerer. What spell have you cast on the fair Akane Tendo that she speaks thus to me?" Akane made an outraged noise and stamped her foot. Ranma, Ryoga, and Kuno all stared at her as she glared at the confused would-be suitor.
"Is there some offense in my words, fair tigress?" Her glare hardened and she nodded curtly.
"Yes, Kuno. You did offend me."
"How so, O Fair One?"
"Every time I try to tell you even the simplest thing, you ignore me and start bothering Ranma. Stop it. Stop it right now and talk to me, because I’m the one who has a problem with you." Kuno blinked.
"A problem, you say? And what, O most beautiful one, could that be?"
"You have made decisions about my dating life that no one said you could; you have set the better portion of the male student body on me. Further, you have ignored my disinterest and expressed desire to be as far away from you as I possibly can time and time again. I want you to leave me alone. And I’ll tell you now before you can say anything: Ranma has nothing to do with this. This is just me, an ordinary girl, telling you, an ordinary boy, to back off. Do you understand?" Kuno had the look of a man who was desperately fighting a battle with comprehension and loosing.
"I…I must confess some small measure of confusion, Akane Tendo." Akane sighed yet again and glared at him.
"What is it that you don’t understand, Kuno?" He made a motion at Ranma with one of his hands.
"How you could ever choose that vile cure over someone with my prowess?" Akane groaned and massaged her forehead with a hand.
"You’re missing the point, Kuno." But the boy wasn’t listening.
"In soothe, the maid knows not what she says, for the vile sorcerer, the bane of my existence, the nefarious Ranma Soatome has put her under one of his cursed spells. Fear not, fair one! I shall save you by smiting this cur! Have at you, sir!" So spouting, Kuno drew his weapon and lunged at Ranma. Akane screamed in frustration.
"Kuno! That’s not what I meant and in that tiny blob you call a brain, you know that!" Kuno, busy calling Ranma a ‘vile cure’, and ‘evil sorcerer’, did not hear Akane’s scream or her words of rage. "I’ve had it with this nut." Akane whispered in ire. "I’m going to kill him." Hands reached out and pulled Akane into shadow as she began Calling her sword. Kuno and Ranma were too busy fighting and Ryoga was too preoccupied laughing at Kuno’s technique to notice. After Kuno was sufficiently beaten into a pulp, Ranma grinned and turned to find Akane. The girl was just walking out from behind a building and her look of meek apology wiped the grin off Ranma’s face.
"Akane?" Ranma questioned. Ryoga turned to see Akane and immediately adopted Ranma’s look of concern.
"What’s the matter?" Ryoga asked. Akane took a deep breath and smiled shakily at the two of them.
"I-I’ve behaved rather badly, you know." The boys looked at each other and then back at Akane.
"What are you talking about, Akane?" Ranma wanted to know. "I don’t think you’ve behaved badly at all." Akane was shaking her head and Ranma glanced over at Ryoga, who affirmed his suspicions. Akane was acting weird.
"You only say that because you don’t know better, but I have behaved badly. I-I shouldn’t have let my temper get away with me." Ryoga blinked.
"Is that all?" Akane nodded.
"I need training to handle my temper. It-it’s unseemly for me to behave like this." Ranma shrugged.
"You need training? Fine, I’ll train you. No biggie." Akane shook her head and Ranma scowled. "Oh, all right, fine. So I can’t train you today, still no big deal. I’ll train you this weekend." Akane continued shaking her head then took a deep, shaky breath and smiled at Ranma, but the smile wavered.
"That’s very kind of you, Ranma, but, you see, it won’t work because I won’t be here come the weekend."

~**~

Mousse was absently wiping a table when the phone in the Cat Café rang. He ignored it as he always did and only half noticed when Shampoo, who had answered the call, stared glowering at the phone. With more than a little animosity, she ‘hmph’ed and called,
"Mousse! Stupid phone is for you! Don’t take long time talking or Shampoo have great-grandmother take out of pay!" The seemingly blind martial artist caught the phone a second before it smashed into his head and blinked. He looked at the receiver and walked into the kitchen, which was where the cord led. Once there, he reattached the phone and put it to his ear. Shampoo watched out of the corner of her eye and listened as Mousse talked.
"Hello? Yes, this is he. What? You’re doing what to whom? What?! Now?!" He glanced over at Shampoo and turned his torso away from her, lowering his voice. Unfortunately, not enough. "You can’t do that to her. It’s not fair. What?" Pause. "How do you mean?" Another pause. "Yes, but-" Mousse shifted uncomfortably. "I know, but-" He winced. "Of course I do, but-" He tilted his head away from the receiver and moved the ear piece in the opposite direction. "Couldn’t you just-" He frowned. "But she just-" He straitened. "Now, see here-" He flushed in anger. "Wait just a second there. I never said that-" His mouth twitched. "You have a point." His eyes bulged out of his head. "Why is it being pushed forward?" Pause. "What do you mean, its not?" Pause. "Oh. Ok. Do you want me to-" He blinked. "At the station? Now?" He nodded. "All right. I’ll go and meet-" He scowled. "No, I won’t. Look, I’m telling you that I won’t." He sighed. "Fine, fine. You’d better let me go now or I’ll miss her." He nodded again. "Right." Nod. "Right." Two nods. "Right again." He smiled. "See you there!" He said cheerily, and hung up. He looked over at Shampoo and took a deep breath. Then he closed his eyes and took another. After a third, he called out Cologne’s name. The old woman came.
"What do you want, Mousse?" The boy rubbed the bump on his head where Cologne’s staff had been persuaded to say ‘hello’.
"I have to go to the train station." Cologne stared at him.
"Why, whatever for?" Mousse sighed.
"I have to catch a train." Mousse waited for Cologne to finished hitting him before continuing. "There’s a family reunion that I need to attend. My family on my father’s side." He added when Cologne opened her mouth. She ‘hmm’-ed and looked at him. Finally, she shrugged and began hopping away.
"Do whatever you want. It’s coming out of your pay check." Mousse blinked.
"I get paid?" Cologne sighed and ignored him. With an awed looked on his face, muttering about how he earned money, even though he never actually saw that money, Mousse went to his room and packed. Shampoo huffed.
"Great Grandmother, if you let Stupid Duck-boy go to stupid family reunion, Shampoo have to do double shift. And when lunch and dinner rush hit, Shampoo not be able to handle by self." Cologne shrugged.
"That’s better than never having help at all." Shampoo blinked at her.
"What you saying?" Cologne looked at her great granddaughter and said,
"The boy is determined. If I didn’t let him go, he’d quit, and with his pride he’d never come back. I thought it would be better to let him have his fun for a few days and make his work harder when he got back then have him quit and have to close the Café. Don’t you agree?" Shampoo fluffed her hair and ‘hmph’ed again.
"Stupid Mousse always come back because he think he in love with Shampoo." Cologne stared at her granddaughter and then sighed.
"You don’t know that boy as well as you think you do, Great Granddaughter. He is very stubborn." Shampoo made a noise in the back of her throat and turned back to her customer with a muttered,
"Tell Shampoo about it." A few seconds later, a blur flew by, saying something that was either ‘see you in a few days’ or ‘bee flew in the rays’. Either way, Mousse was gone, and Shampoo crinkled her fingers after him in a strange almost-wave.
"When you get back, Stupid," she said gleefully, "Shampoo watch you being worked to death. Have fun, Duck-boy."

~**~

*How did I get here? * Ranma wondered. *I don’t want to be here. I want to go back to the Dojo. And I want to take Akane with me, consequences be damned. * Akane, Ranma, and Ryoga were all gathered on platform, waiting for a train no one really wanted to come. Akane’s family and Mr. Soatome didn’t come to the station, because they couldn’t stand to see Akane go. At least, that was why Kasumi and Nabiki didn’t come. Genma and Soun didn’t come because they wanted to give their heirs an opportunity to say goodbye alone. Akane looked at the train as people boarded and took a deep, shaky breath. She plastered what she hoped was a brave smile on her face and forced herself to turn around.
"Well," she began with false cheer, "I guess this is it." Ranma mumbled something inaudible and kicked at the ground with his feet. Ryoga took a deep breath, strode forward, gave Akane a huge hug, and stepped away. He smiled at her and gave a thumbs-up while winking.
"Have fun, ok? And if you’re not having fun, come home. It’d be ok with us if you did." Akane nodded and wiped a stray tear away quickly before her two friends could see it.
"I will. Oh, and, Ryoga," the boy, who had turned away to leave, paused and looked back, "if…Alan calls…say I’m gone. And tell him I’ll be back and not to worry, ok?" Ryoga looked at her for a moment before smiling, nodding once, and leaving. Ranma was the last to say his farewells. Akane watched him for a few minutes before the blowing of the whistle reminded her that she didn’t have all day. The time had come to go. She said as much and Ranma replied,
"I know." He looked up and she smiled, because she hated it when he looked that sad. "Can’t I please go with you?" The quiet plea tore at Akane’s heart and she couldn’t speak, so she shook her head instead. Ranma looked crestfallen. Unable to bare it any longer, Akane spun away just as the first tears fell and hurried to get on the train. Just as she was halfway in the doorway, she heard Ranma speak again in that soft, defeated, resigned voice.
"Please don’t forget me." The last of Akane’s heart and resolve crumbled and she flung herself away from the train, turning at the same time. She ran the few steps that separated her and the boy. Once she reached him, she flung her arms around his neck and hid her face in his shirt briefly. Then, because time was short and if she paused to think or let him react she would loose her nerve, she tilted her head up swiftly and pressed her lips to his. There was a moment for Ranma when he couldn’t remember what ‘up’ and ‘down’ were, or what the difference was, and then she was gone again. She raced to the train and flew into it, her tears falling down her cheeks and slipping off to turn into crystals in the air. Ranma reached up, dumbfounded, and touched his lips. Then he touched his cheek and his fingers came back wet, but whether the tears were hers or his he didn’t know. Ranma looked up as the train pulled away, and was still too dazed to notice the figure that hurled itself into the train almost too late. The same things happened over and over. He felt her tears on his bare neck, soaking his shirt; he relived the dizzyingly intoxicating feeling of her inviting warm lips on his; he heard the choked words she had murmured before she left,
"I could never forget you, dearest of all." Ranma’s shock began to fade and his eyes softened. He watched the train disappear around the bend before he finally sighed and turned to leave. He glanced back only once. When he did, he smiled and began counting down the days before he could see her and talk to her again.
"One year, Akane. Then you come home and I can tell you what I should have told you so long ago. Just one year." Ranma turned away from the station and, with a heavy, broken, determined heart, headed back to the Dojo.