Prologue

"What a strange dream." Akane said as she woke up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "But... it felt so real. It still does. Even now I can picture his face and voice like he really does live here."

Suddenly needing some reassurance of what was real, Akane quietly walked to the guest room and slowly opened the door. It was empty, unused for quite some time, yet dustfree and organized thanks to Kasumi's vigilance.

For some reason, she was quite disappointed. 'Calm down, it was just a dream. There is no Ranma, there is no agreement Dad made with anyone, I... I have no fiancee.' She then shed a tear at that.

Not wanting to linger on such thoughts, Akane headed to the furo for a relaxing soak, forsaking her jogging for the morning. In the room she was reminded that her hair was long, uncut by Ryoga's bandanna. 'Ranma said I looked cute with it short. Maybe I... wait, Ranma was just a dream. By the end of today I won't even remember his name.'

But by the time she was washed and in the hot water, nothing from her dream had faded. It all was as vivid as a genuine memory. She could still see Ranma arriving in female form then later male and nude in this very spot, she could hear him calling her uncute and sexless yet proudly call her his fiancee when another boy tried to force them apart, she could even still hear him say he loved her when she almost died at Jusendo. It all felt so real to her that the idea it all had been just a highly detailed dream was breaking her heart.

Not only that, but her behavior in the dream was breaking her heart too. The Akane in the dream only saw so much, but she, the one who dreamed it all, saw everything from a third person perspective, like a person watching a show or reading a book. She saw Ryoga as P-chan and how he got the curse and why Ranma said nothing on it. She saw all the times Ranma really was innocent from being perverted, like when he tried to keep real perverts from her. She saw all the fights he did with others, often to defend her or free himself from yet another problem dumped on his shoulders. There were even times she could actually feel what he felt too in certain situations, like when he had to hide from his mother or when he wanted to make Akane happy. But the best part, hands down, was when she felt his feelings right after the Saffron battle.

'Ranma... he loved me. He did, he really did, but when I asked he was just confused, not in denial.' Akane thought sadly, letting herself cry a bit, remembering that the dream ended before she could say she loved him. 'But instead of getting to be with him, I'm back to beating off the hentai horde and Kuno on a regular basis. I'm back to... normality.' Oh how hollow that felt to her. Normality had sounded like a paradise compared to the chaos Nerima had become in her dream, but to lose Ranma to get it... was that a sacrifice that was worth it?

'How can I sacrifice someone who doesn't really exist?' Akane asked herself, getting out of the furo. 'And how can I miss someone who's only a figment of my imagination?'

With today not being a school day, Akane had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Rather than go out and find something, she ended up spending most of her time staring off into space. Her earlier beliefs that she would have gotten the dream by now had proven wrong. She still vividly remembered Ranma's face, voice, the way it felt when he held her, everything that made her glad he was engaged to her.

After a while, around noon to be more specific, Kasumi knew something was not right. Akane was a high-spirited girl and here she looked like she has lost something irreplaceable. She came up to her sister who was sitting on the Tendo porch staring forlornly at the koi pond. "Are you hurt Akane?" She asked, not sure how exactly to address the problem.

Akane looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. "I'm fine Kasumi."

'That's a lie if ever I heard one.' Kasumi told herself. "Who are you trying to convince Akane, me or you?"

'I have no idea.' The youngest Tendo told herself. "Kasumi, I don't know how to explain it, but... there's someone I miss deeply. I wish I could see him just once, but I know I never will."

"Who?" Kasumi asked.

"A... a boy I knew."

"A boy?" Kasumi repeated, surprised that there was a boy Akane actually liked.

"Yeah, a decent boy, though I didn't realize that until... he left." Akane answered, not wanting to admit she was talking about a dream instead of a real person.

Kasumi nodded sagely. "Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it."

'Maybe that was my problem in the dream.' Akane told herself. 'When Ranma was around, I never appreciated him. I always assumed I could do whatever I wanted and he would stick around until I was finally ready for marriage. Kami-sama, just remembering it makes me sick. I can't believe I would really do that to the boy I wanted to marry. Why is it only now that I realize I could have avoided so much trouble by just putting down that mallet once in a while?'

"Something wrong sis?" Kasumi asked, noticing Akane was crying a bit harder now.

"Just realizing hindsight really is 20/20 after all." The young Tendo said.

The older sister patted the younger one's back. "I'm sure you'll be fine Akane. Maybe someday you will see him again. If not, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But if you do, at least now you know what not to do."

"I'd give anything, short of my soul, to have that chance." Akane wished.

Akane went out for a jog just to get some air and returned to the dojo. Normally she'd break a few breaks to finish her workout, but right now she just had no anger in her for once. So instead she just walked to the backyard.

"Hey Akane, still got a dark cloud over your head?" Nabiki asked as she passed by.

"You could say that."

"Well, if you can pull yourself together long enough, Daddy's got something he wants to tell us all." The mercenary said as she turned and left.

With nothing better to do, Akane followed. Kasumi sat at a low table on the right side in her normal wear and Nabiki sat down next to her in a light blue kimono. Akane thus sat down at Nabiki's left, and Soun sat across from them all.

"Girls, I've got important news for you all. One of you is about to get a fiancee." Soun stated.

"Fiancee?" Akane asked, not expecting this."

Soun nodded. "Yes, he's the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome."

Akane's eyes immediately came close to popping out of her head. 'What the hell! This... is this really just a coincidence?'

"Many years ago, before any of you were ever born, the two of us made a promise to each other." Soun continued, making Akane even more... uncertain would be the best way to describe it.

'This is too unusual. There's no possible way I dreamed the future.' She told herself. 'Right?'

"We agreed that when our children came of age we would introduce them together. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this dojo, then our family legacy and future would be secure." Soun finished.

Akane was getting close to hyperventilating. 'Could... could it be? Ranma's real? I'll get to see him? I can make things work for us this time?'

"So is this Ranma and his father coming over?" Nabiki asked, seeing no other reason her father would bring this up to them.

"Yes. I got a postcard from my friend earlier today. He and Ranma have been traveling for years training in all places, and just got back to Japan from China." Soun answered after he stood up and looked outside, as if to make his words have a greater impact.

Akane had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming right now.

"Wow, China." Nabiki said, impressed.

"Father, how old is this Ranma?" Kasumi asked.

"Is Ranma cute?" Nabiki asked.

Akane lightly frowned hearing that. 'Don't even think about it Nabiki. He is MINE! Kasumi I'm not worried about. Maybe I can help her and Tofu get together too.'

"I hope he isn't younger than me." Kasumi added.

"Well, what kind of guy is he?" Nabiki added.

Soun lightly laughed, then paused and turned around. "I don't know."

Nabiki frowned. "You don't know?"

"I mean, I've never met him." The Tendo patriarch admitted, turning back from his daughters.

Kasumi and Nabiki were silently going over this, asking themselves if they were willing to be a part of this. Kasumi looked astounded at her father's answer while Nabiki looked mostly irritated. Akane however kept her eyes peeled for the door, waiting to hear a panda and angry girl show up. 'This time I'll do things right. Although... maybe I can actually enjoy this time at the furo. Or should I skip it completely? I don't want to make Ranma feel uncomfortable. So I probably shouldn't tell him about my dream. Not right away at least.'

"When will Ranma get here?" Akane asked, speaking for the first time here.

"Sometime today, I'm assuming not too long from now." Her father.

'If my dream really was a sign, then they should be coming...' She then heard a knock. 'Bingo!'

In her dream Nabiki had been the first to get up and go with her father to answer the door, with Kasumi and Akane behind them. This time, Akane got up first and went with Soun to see their visitors. 'Ranma, I can't wait to see you and start over on the right foot this time.'

Little did Akane know this was not going to be quite what she predicted.