Regret it

Summary:Akane listens to a conversation between Ryouga and Ranma that makes her wonder where Ranma stands regarding their engagement. After careful consideration, she decides that if Rama can't figure out a way to dump her, she will make it easier on her and him.

A/N: This story came to mind when I was watching episode 54: "The Ultimate Team-up!? The Ryouga/ Mousse Alliance." There is a specific conversation towards the end of the episode that I wasn't particularly happy about. This one-shot is my take on what could have happened if Akane had listened to it.

Ryouga, Akane and Ranma had returned to the Tendo residence after their close encounter with one of Mousse's time bombs at the park. Akane had gone inside the home to her room to wait for P-Chan to return. Ryouga and Ranma had stayed outside by the pond, discussing the latest events, and this was where the two youngsters had been for hours. Ranma had kept rolling his eyes at Ryouga the entire time, due to his exaggerated speeches and mannerisms regarding how responsible he felt for endangering Akane's life.

Ranma had had more than enough of Ryouga's self-pity party, and was becoming anxious to get him to shut up already and go home. He still had to go check on Akane and make certain she was actually OK. He did not believe she had received a single scratch, but she could be so obstinate sometimes, and he had caught her hiding injuries before. "That girl is insufferable. Why does she hafta be so damned stubborn?"

Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by Ryouga's continuation of his speech.

"I was an idiot to team with Mousse like that! If anything had happened to Akane, I would have never been able to forgive myself!" Ryouga berated himself as he faced the koi pond. His position prevented him from seeing Ranma reaching the end of his rope.

"Ah! Don't be so hard on yourself. Mules like her ain't exactly helpless, you know? 'Course they ain't exactly marriage material either! Ha-ha-ha!" Ranma stated, not able to control his laughter.

Ryouga turned around to face Ranma, visibly upset about Ranma's comment regarding his beloved Akane. Ryouga would never understand how someone so lucky would be so ungrateful for his blessings.

"I thought you and Akane were supposed to be engaged?"

"I am, that is, at least until I can figure out how to dump her. What's it to you, anyway?"

"Ranma, you better be good to her, or so help me I'll make you regret it."

Ranma scoffed. Ryouga could be so overly dramatic. Without further ado, Ryouga turned around and left Ranma standing there, yelling his response to the air.

"Regret it? You can date the dumb mule, for all I care!"

Realizing Ryouga would probably be away for a while, Ranma sighed and turned around heading back inside the house, his eyes facing the wooden floor. "Now to check on Akane."

His eyes saw a pair of bare feet in front of him, and soon realized they were not his own. He followed the feet to the thick legs attached to it. He then followed the thick legs to the wide hips, and the wide hips connected to the flat chest. The flat chest connected to the big head, which held glossy brown eyes staring back at his blue eyes.

Ranma felt his entire body freeze in place when he saw her. She did not move or speak to him; she just stood there, staring deeply into his eyes.

"How much did she hear?" A nervous Ranma thought. He took a step towards her, his arms extended in front of himself as if reaching out to her to comfort her. "Akane?"

"Not marriage material uh?" she finally said after a long silence, lowering her head.

"Akane, wait. It's not what you think…"

"If you don't…if you never wanted t-to…marry me, why did you just scare off the only guy that might have?"

"What?"

"Ryouga. Ryouga may not wonder about how he could dump me if I dated him, right?"

"What the hell are you babbling about? Ryouga? That…pig?"

Akane scoffed, finally regaining her senses. "Pig? You're one to talk! I can't believe you would…that I thought…"

Ranma saw her tears finally come. He moved closer to her and bent down slightly to see her fallen face. "Akane, let me explain…"

"NO! There is nothing TO explain! I heard you loud and clear! I'm gonna make this very easy on you, Ranma! You don't have to worry about figuring out how to dump me. I'm no longer your fiancée!"

"Oh, come on! I was just trying to…"

His words were stopped by Akane's open palm striking his face. His head was completely pushed to the side by the force of the impact, forcing him to stare at the spot from where Ryouga had just left. He stood in the same position for a second too long. When he finally moved his head back to face her, she was already gone.

Ranma rubbed his cheek, feeling the heat on the sore spot already gathering on the offended skin. He rolled his eyes, not even attempting to follow her. He knew that Akane would not listen to anything he had to say until she calmed down. Based on the offense, it would be days, if not an entire week, before she even attempted to make eye contact with him.

"Stupid tomboy, always jumping to conclusions."

He turned around and headed out of the home, suddenly craving some okonomiyaki.

xxxXXXxxx

"Ranma, honey, honestly! Why do you put up with that treatment? Why don't you just move in with me? I would never treat you like that!"

Ranma ignored Ukyo's obvious advances, concentrating on eating the last pieces of his food. He had spent half his time at Uc-chan's ignoring what Ukyo was telling him, and thinking how he was ever going to accomplish the feat of making Akane forgive him. The anger that he had felt towards her attitude had quickly dissipated when he realized how awful the conversation must have sounded to her.

"Note to self: don't pretend that you don't care about her when she might be around to hear it."

Regardless of the insults they exchanged every day, Ranma had not shown any other actions that would make her believe he was not in this engagement until the end. He had always believed the arguments between them were just the way their relationship worked, and he would not have it any other way. Ranma could not understand why she always concentrated on the bad times of their interactions, rather than the good.

"I just wanted Ryouga to get mad and go away! I don't think she's not marriage material…in fact, I…"

Yet, he could not make himself admit it, or even think about it, even to himself. They were still young, and nothing serious needed to happen between them yet. Part of him, the immature part, was still in denial that he had ended up caring for the tomboy more than he had wanted when they first met.

He had though that he would tire of her very soon, but with each passing day the want –the need, to be with her, just kept growing. Sometime between defeating her at the dojo the first day he and his father arrived at the Tendo home, and their unusual adventures, he had developed feelings for her.

Was it love? Not necessarily.

"Well, not yet, but…"

Ranma chewed on the last piece of his okonomiyaki as if he was chewing on a cardboard box. His current state of depression did not allow him to enjoy his friend's food as much as he would have any other day. His mind wandered back to the look on Akane's face before she had slapped him. "Why didn't she just punch me? That'd hurt less."

Looking at the time, he realized that he had been out for half a day and the sun had set hours ago. He stood up from the bar and left a few coins on Ukyo's table. She stared at him with a bizarre look, noting that she had not asked for payment. He shrugged and told her it was about time he paid for some of the food he ate. He thanked her and left the establishment, leaving behind a shocked Ukyo staring at the money on the table.

Ranma walked back home with his hands in his pockets, staring intently at the ground. Tomorrow was a school day, and he knew that Akane would not even bother to wake him up. His thoughts prevented him from hitting something in front of him with full force. The impact sent him down to the ground before he looked up to see his dad carrying two backpacks.

"Pop?"

Genma's response was to throw Ranma his backpack, and walk next to his son on his way to the park. "Be sure to thank Kami that it's the summer. Who knows how long we'll be out here in the open."

Ranma, finally reacting and standing up, slung his backpack around one of his arms before catching up to his dad. "What are you talking about, ol' man?"

"Tendo and I decided that Akane needed some time away from you. You never measure the power of your words, do you, son?"

Ranma scoffed. "I didn't do shit! That uncute girl is always exaggerating every word I say! Why do we gotta move out just because she's having one of her moods?"

"Silence, boy!" Genma said as he punched the pigtailed boy on the head. "I thought I raised you better than that! How dare you tell Akane she's not marriage material? I think you're not the one good enough to marry her!"

Ranma rubbed the quickly-forming bruise on his head, swearing to repay the favor to his dad. "So, because I told the truth, I get punished? Who would want to marry an uncute, unsexy, terrible cook like her?"

"Ryouga."

Ranma growled. "You too? As if Akane would settle for that instant bacon creator!"

"She'd settled for you, hadn't she? Why wouldn't she settle for someone who treats her right?"

"Ryouga? As if! If she knew that he was P-Chan, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"And if you hadn't told Akane she wasn't married material, we wouldn't be out here for who knows how long!"

"I didn't tell her that! I was telling Ryouga!"

"She heard it! It doesn't matter!"

"Ugh! Just shut up, Pop! I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Ranma walked ahead of his dad and quickly set up camp at the park. Genma followed his son, and set up his own tent a few feet away from the young adult. The rest of the night was quiet on the outside, but inside, Ranma's mind screamed that something worse than sleeping out in the open was about to happen.

xxxXXXxxx

Three days after their fight, Akane and Ranma were still not on speaking terms. He had followed her to and from school from a reasonable distance so she would not know she was being followed. In school, she had sat as far away from him as possible. During lunch, she had disappeared from his sight.

Today, four days after their argument, he had decided to find out where she had gone off to during lunch all these days. The school was not so big that she could hide where he could not find her. In addition, he had been able to see Yuka and Sayuri hanging out during lunch, but without Akane.

"Not today, you ain't."

As soon as the bell rang for the beginning of lunch, Ranma sped to the door to run ahead of Akane. He hid behind one of the concrete columns down the hall, and waited for her to leave. He watched as she said goodbye to her two giddy friends, and made her way out of the hall. He followed her until she reached the end of the school. She turned behind her to make sure no one was following her before she jumped clean over the fence.

"She's been leaving school? Why?"

He climbed a tree and saw her run towards an abandoned lot behind the school. He waited until she was out of hearing range and jumped down the tree on the other side of the school. He carefully followed her and watched as she stopped and waved at something –or someone.

She ran towards the lot and when Ranma reached the corner of the building behind the lot, he saw something he was not expecting.

"Hey, honey! How's school going so far?" the boy with the yellow bandana said.

Akane hugged the boy, making her already big smile grow even more. The boy returned the embrace before pushing away after a few seconds, and taking her chin in his hand.

"It's boring without you. When are you moving in with us?"

Ranma froze.

"What would he move in with us?"

Them, it's not your home, the voice inside Ranma's mind reminded him. His snappy response to the nagging voice inside his head was forgotten when his eyes showed him an image that broke his heart.

Akane tilted her head to the right and Ryouga tilted his the same. They leaned closer to each other, closed their eyes…

…and kissed.

Ranma's eyes were wide as saucers. He watched as they remained like that for a while. When they separated, Ryouga led Akane inside his tent, closing it behind him. Ranma waited for five minutes but when neither of them came out, he turned around and left. He did not return to school that day. He could not bring himself to do so; not after what he had seen.

He did not return to his tent either. The last thing he wanted was to argue with his old man. He reached the water canal and sat under the bridge. His eyes seemed to be fixed on the water, but he was not really focusing on anything in front of him.

"Why did she…? Didn't she…? I thought she…"

Ranma pulled his bent legs towards his chest and circled them with his arms. He felt his chest hurt from the inside out. He closed his eyes that had mysteriously begun to sting. When he opened them again, he felt something warm travel down his cheeks. He raised his hand to his face and rubbed his cheek with the back of it. He then took his hand closer to his eyes and saw the clear, shiny liquid on it.

"Why…am I?"

He closed his eyes again and his mind replayed the kiss. Had this been where Akane had gone to all this week? She was visiting Ryouga at a vacant lot and doing who-knew-what inside his tent? With him?

"Why him?"

"If you don't…if you never wanted t-to…marry me, why did you just scare off the only guy that might have?" Ranma shook his head at the memory. "Did she really mean that?"

Ranma Saotome felt the tears come again.

"Why does it hurt? She's just…we didn't even want to…"

But he did, he did want to be with her. Had it not been the reason why he lied to Ryouga? Was that not the reason he had tried to push him away from Akane?

"I'm sorry."
That night, Ranma Saotome slept under a lonely bridge, but not until after he realized how strongly he felt about his now ex-fiancée.

xxxXXXxxx

The next morning, Ranma woke up with soreness all over his body. A constant string of nightmares and the lack of a comfortable place to rest had disturbed his sleep. The events of yesterday returned to him in an instant. The pain he had felt last night returned to him, tenfold.

He stood up and ran down to the warm canal. He took a sip of water to wash his mouth and clean his face. He used his sleeves to dry his face and headed back to Furinkan. The sun was just now coming out and he knew he could catch up with Akane's morning run if he hurried. He ran down the path she would take for her jog, and after a few blocks, he finally found her.

She was standing in front of a water fountain, drinking from it. He took small steps towards her, not wanting to scare her away.

"Akane?"

He saw her back become stiff as she wiped the water off her mouth. She turned around and stared at Ranma.

"Hey, Ranma. What are you up to so early?"

"I…I couldn't sleep."

"Oh. Well, I better get going."

"Wait."

Akane stopped and looked to the side, holding her weight by resting her hands on the water fountain behind her. "What?"

"Akane…about what I said. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Can you forgive me?"

"Ranma...don't…don't worry about it, alright? It doesn't mean anything anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I…it was selfish of me. To think…to try and keep you where…with…who you didn't want to be with."

"Akane, don't think…"

"RANMA!" he flinched at her sudden outburst. "I'm over it, OK? Just, just let it go."

"I'm still sorry."

"I know."

An awkward silence fell upon them. Neither of them attempted to move. After another moment, Ranma extended his hand to hers. Akane looked at it for a second before reluctantly extending hers and meeting his. "Friends?" he asked.

"Friends."

Ranma shook her hand twice but did not let go. He pulled her closer to him, startling Akane as she became embraced by him.

She placed her free hand on his chest, pushing slightly on it, but not with enough force to release herself from him. "Ranma, what are you doing?"

He placed his hand on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Whatever he promised you, I can give to you, too. Just, give me a chance."

"Who promised me what?"

"Ryouga. I saw you two at the vacant lot, yesterday."

Akane frowned. "You were spying on me?"

Ranma flinched. "I wouldn't call it spying. I was just worried, you kept disappearing during lunch."

"So you followed me?" Akane said as she tried to pull herself away from him. Ranma held her tighter so she would not run away.

"Will you let me explain? I've been wanting to apologize to you since Sunday, but you wouldn't listen!"

"Oh! And why is that? Do you hate sleeping outside? Or are you just upset that this stubborn mule found someone who thinks she might be marriage material?"

Ranma scoffed. "Stop putting words in my mouth, 'kane! I just…"

"You just what? Wanted to get even to go back home? Why don't you just leave us alone!"

"Us? One stupid fight between us, and now you're dating him? From all the guys you could have dated!"
"We're not dating."

"Coulda fooled me! I saw you kissing him! If he's not your boyfriend, then you're just cheating on me!"

"C-cheating?"

"Well, what else would you call it? As far as I know, you're still my fiancée!"

Akane pushed him back with all her strength but he did not budge. "Ranma, I called it off. You're NOT my fiancée!"

"The hell you ain't! You think I'm gonna let Ryouga, or anyone take you away from me?"

"You're too late, Rama."

"Late?" he thought.

Akane closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. Ranma's eyes focused on the shiny item on Akane's ring finger of her left hand.

Items.

Two rings.

An engagement ring, and a wedding ring.

Akane suddenly realized she had inadvertently showed the ring to him. She froze.

"Akane," his voice was only a whisper. "Are you…did he…when?"

"Yesterday after school. Our parents don't know."

"Why? Akane…how could you do that to me…to us?"

"Us? There is no us, Ranma. There never was."

"Is that what you think? Do you really think I didn't want…"

"NO! Stop!" She emphasized her point by kicking him in the stomach and running away. Ranma doubled in pain that did not come from the kick, but from somewhere inside of him. By the time he looked towards her direction, she was already gone.

"Akane! How could you? Ryouga, that son of a bitch! He knew I…"

But he did not. No one did. Because all that came from Ranma's mouth were words of denial towards her. How would Akane not jump into the first set of arms that embraced her with love? How would she not accept the first man that showered her with gifts and affection? He always thought he had all the time in the world to show her how he felt, but he did not.

Ranma ran back to the vacant lot. He had to speak with Ryouga, make him understand it was all a mistake. Make him understand he was being used.

Or was he?

"That shoulda been me, not Ryouga."

His vision blurred when he saw Ryouga standing next to his tent. He was staring at a fire he had just made, perhaps to cook his breakfast. How had he not wandered off yet? Why would he? Akane would just keep coming back to him. Holding him. Kissing him. Loving him.

"NO!"

Ranma stood a few feet away from Ryouga. His legs were weak from the shock of seeing Akane's rings. He lost his footing and fell on his ass on the ground. His eyes were filled with tears, making it difficult to see the scene in front of him. If he did not know any better, he would have sworn the tent looked like a wall back at the Tendo home. The fire pit started to look like the koi pond he had been thrown into so many mornings. The ground felt hard but slippery, as if it was made out of wood.

He looked down and blinked his tears away. When did the grass disappear? He looked up and the vacant lot had turned into the backyard of the Tendo home. He stared at Ryouga, just a few feet away from him, glaring at himself.

"Ranma, you better be good to her, or so help me I'll make you regret it."

Ryouga then turned around and left the dojo, leaving a stunned Ranma who had now realized he was sitting at the hall of the Tendo Residence. The tent and fire pit where gone. The tears were gone. Ryouga was gone.

Ranma took a deep breath, knowing what was coming. He saw it in his mind. Akane was standing next to him, listening to every word he said. She had heard. She had heard him dissing her. "She's gonna leave me. She's gonna…"

However, he was not going to let history repeat itself. He came out of his trance, realizing he had been daydreaming the whole time. He had to fix it. He had to fix what he had broken inside of her. What could he do? He had to do something to prevent her marrying Ryouga in four days. Yet, four days was not enough time. He had to act immediately. He had to act now. He opened his mouth without turning to face her and did the only thing he could do.

He spoke out loud.

"Stupid Ryouga! Who does he think he is? As if I'mma let'm take my fiancée."

He scoffed. He slowly turned his face to his left and his right, but Akane was nowhere to be seen. Had she heard him? Had she ran away already? He stood up and took to the roof, on his way to Akane's room.

If he had walked the other way, deeper into the Tendo home, he would have encountered a blue-haired girl, with her open palm on her chest. Her heart rate accelerated, causing her to take deep breaths. However, the most noticeable feature on her was on her face.

Her smile. Her deep smile.

She covered her face with her hands, attempting to relax her body that was filled with happiness.

Ranma cared for her.

And, at this time, this was the only thing she cared about. Later on that day, Akane would savor the moment when Ranma would finally find her. He would then grab her hands and examine them on both sides. When she asked what was wrong, he would give her one of his signature smiles and tell her he was only checking for injuries from the early battle before grabbing her hand and leading her up to the roof to watch the stars.

A/N: LOL! I bet Ranma won't call her a no-marriage material mule, anymore! Hope you liked it! And, yes, it was a daydream.