Epilogue

3 Months Later

Soun Tendo, Genma and Nodoka Saotome were looking forward to a rare evening out. When Nabiki had called him a few weeks ago to tell him she would be visiting, Akane had decided to take everyone to dinner. Akane claimed she wanted to celebrate her move home by having the entire family get together. However, Soun thought Akane just wanted to impress Nabiki (they had been competing with each other since they were young children).

As they took a look around, they were impressed by the subtle elegance of their surroundings. Soun was glad he had donned the charcoal grey suit Akane had sent him for Christmas the year before, it gave him a distinguished look. Soun still wore his hair long but it was now salted with grey.

Nodoka, not having many opportunities to go out, was happy to have a reason to wear the brand new silk kimono that her son had given her. The kimono was cream in color and had a blue floral pattern throughout the material. She still wore her hair an elegant bun at the back of her head. Ranma had also given a matching kimono to his father, it was a simple dark blue silk that matched the flowers on her kimono. To her surprise, Genma had put on the kimono for dinner with only minimal amount of resistance. It took more persuasion for him to leave the house without the bandana he habitually wore over his head.

As they entered the restaurant, Soun reflected on his family. He was proud of each of his daughters; besides being beautiful, they were all very strong women. After his wife's passing, Kasumi had become the rock that kept the family together, stepping in when Soun was too emotionally distraught to function. She eventually married a good man and had given Soun three wonderful grandsons. He was looking forward to spoiling his fourth grandchild, a girl they planned on naming Kimiko, after Soun's late wife.

Nabiki, his middle daughter, was always the hardest for him to understand. As a child she very bright but after her mother's death, she became withdrawn, choosing to hide her feelings behind an unreadable mask. Using that cool exterior, Nabiki had taken the world by storm and became a successful business woman, a great feat in the patriarchal society of Japan. He was slightly disappointed she never wanted to marry but understood that she feared it would be the end the career she worked so hard for.

Akane, his baby, was the spitting image of her mother and was the only daughter to openly show her emotions. When she was younger, Soun had worried that she was too angry at the world but didn't know how to help her. He was happy to see that while she was away from home, she grown into a thoughtful, mature young woman. His only regret was that she seemed to have given up on finding love. After seeing them getting along during dinner months ago, Soun had secretly (in his mind anyway) hoped that she would renew her engagement to Ranma Saotome.

Genma for his part was looking forward to the meal itself, since he could never afford to go to nice restaurants, much less taking his wife to one. Although he rarely showed it, anything that made his wife happy made him happy.

The maître d' escorted them into one of the restaurant's private dining areas. Inside, Soun found his son-in-law rocking a sleepy Tomeo on his shoulder. Tofu was wearing a black suit, white shirt and striped pink tie, his long hair pulled into a low ponytail. His three sons were wearing matching black suits, Toru grumpily tugging at his tie. Kasumi, wearing a pink knee length dress, cut high under her bust to accommodate her expanding waistline, ballet flats and her hair pulled into a ponytail by a crystal studded clip. She was standing next to Akane, who was wearing a cream colored dress with a square cut top and lace cap sleeves, skinny ivory belt with simple a-line bottom, she paired with matching peep toe pumps, her hair pulled back in a bun that was positioned low and slightly to the right side of her head. They were both listening intently to Kinji, who was happy to be the center of attention, waving his hands around while telling his aunty about his afternoon visit to the park. Upon seeing them enter, Toru and Kinji ran over to their grandfather for hugs and begged him to toss them in the air.

Soon after, Nabiki walked in wearing a slinky black wrap dress, black designer red-soled heels, holding a quilted evening bag, her hair in her signature blunt bob cut. What surprised almost everyone was that Nabiki was accompanied by Ranma, who was wearing a black three piece suit with black square knot tie.

Seeing everyone's attention on them, Nabiki said, "Look who I caught trying to crash the party."

"Ranma, what are you doing here?" Genma asked, surprised to see his son.

"I was just telling Nabiki, that Akane was gracious enough to invite me to dinner after mom told her I would be in town tonight."

More greetings were exchanged. The women all gave Ranma hugs and then proceeded to complement each other on their hair, dresses, shoes and anything else that was visible to the naked eye.

As things settled down, Akane cleared her throat and put her hands into the pockets concealed into the folds of her dress. "Before we sit down for dinner, I have an announcement."

Making sure she had everyone's attention, she pulled out her right hand and showed everyone the diamond ring that adorned her fourth finger, "I'm getting married..." Stunned silence followed.

Akane turned her head and gave a slight nod to one of the waiters, who moved to the dividing wall behind her. He slid the panels to one side to reveal a small wooden arch decorated with flowers, eight chairs set up in two rows before it. Standing next to the arch was a priest.

"Today."

An eruption of noise followed as Soun cried, "My baby is getting married!" at the same time as Genma said, "The schools will never be joined!" Tofu stood silently by his wife, who had a slight frown marring her usual serene face. Nabiki being Nabiki, had quickly put a few things together and tried to look bored but the corners of her lips were curved ever so slightly. Nodoka, not wanting to make a scene, merely looked upset and was comforted by her son who patted her shoulder before walking forward. The fathers quieted immediately and stared at the duo, worried about the scene that was sure to follow.

However, jaws dropped as Ranma walked up to Akane, whispered into her ear, "You look breathtaking." He wrapped her into his arms, dipped her slightly, and gave her a long kiss.

Silence was broken by Toru and Kinji who both said, "Ewwwww!" followed quickly by Nabiki saying, "About time Saotome!" The fathers began waving victory flags and cheering, Soun crying unabashedly. Kasumi graced them with a rare tooth baring grin, while Tofu wolf whistled. Nodoka, with tears in her eyes, walked towards them, her arms open for a hug. Ranma opened his arms to his mother, who walked right by him and embraced Akane instead. Ranma was slightly put out but happy to see that the two most important women still got along so well.

Ranma and Akane had opted on a simple western style ceremony and vows. However, they made some slight changes to the traditional ceremony. Akane opted not to have her father walk her down the aisle, they omitted the word "obey" from Akane's vows and completely skipped over the objections portion of the ceremony, not wanting to tempt the universe to rain chaos on their day. After the ceremony, the family enjoyed a small feast. The fathers sat at one end of the table drinking copious amounts of their favorite sake and making random outbursts. The rest of the adults, minus Kasumi, were drinking champagne. She and the boys were toasting with sparkling apple cider.

Ranma and Akane had begun to fill everyone in on the events of the last three months. After confessing to each other, Ranma and Akane had spent time just getting to know each other again.

Ranma learned that Akane had kept up with martial arts but had given up breaking bricks. She explained that instead of helping her temper, brick breaking seemed to make it worse. Instead, she started doing yoga, which helped her center herself emotionally and gave her more muscle strength and flexibility. Ranma was impressed to see that it worked, her katas were smoother than he ever remembered them and she hadn't screamed at him once. Although, it probably helped that he had better control of his mouth and had avoided sticking his foot in it. Ranma was happy to find out that Akane had learned how to cook. Sure, she occasionally burned stuff and had the perplexing ability to overcook and undercook a dish at the same time, when she was rushed but Ranma didn't get food poisoning once since they started dating again. Ranma was not so happy when he learned that Akane had briefly dated a chef who had finally helped her learn some basics.

Akane learned that Ranma still liked to sleep late but was surprised that he ate normal quantities of food. His metabolism had finally slowed down and he didn't want to end up like his father. Ranma still practiced martial arts whenever possible and still liked to sneak in training while doing mundane things, like laundry. Akane was surprised to learn that he seemed addicted to reality TV shows, especially competition shows like the Amazing Race. He avoided shows like The Real Housewives like the plague.

After a week of spending every possible moment together, Akane suggested that Ranma check out of his hotel and stay with her. They found living together pretty easy, since they had practice at it while they were teenagers. They had quickly developed a daily routine: jogging together in the morning, followed by a sparring session in a nearby park. They would head home for breakfast and Akane would leave for work. Ranma met her for lunch on days she wasn't in meetings. Most dinners would be had at home followed by the pair doing mundane things like snuggling up together and watching a movie, telling each other stories from their time spent apart, or reminiscing about their adventures in high school.

One such evening lead to the first test of Akane's temper. They had just finished talking about the time Ranma and Shampoo tried to get the water proof soap from Ryoga, when Akane said, "I never knew why he had that soap to begin with." Ranma had nervously told her that Ryoga had a Jusenkyo curse and was actually P-Chan. Akane had gone completely still and quiet while Ranma explained his part in the curse, his warrior's vow to never reveal the curse and his frustration when Akane had adopted Ryoga as a pet. He told her that Ryoga was now married to Akari and helping out with their farm when he wasn't lost. The two had run into each other while Ranma was in Shanghai for work and Ryoga was once again trying to find his way home. Ranma had driven him to the airport and made sure he got on a plane to Japan.

Ranma apologized for not telling her the truth when they were younger and said he didn't want any secrets between them any longer. He was slightly alarmed when Akane simply got up of the couch and walked into the bedroom but he was glad she didn't storm out of the apartment. She had been in there for an hour, not making a sound before he decided to check in on her. When he opened the door, he found her in the middle of an advanced yoga pose, forearms on the floor supporting her entire body weight, her body bent backwards and her feet touching her head, breathing steadily and seeming rather calm.

Akane had gone through several emotions after she learned of P-Chan's origins but it being eight years since she had seen Ryoga, the betrayal stung a lot less. It was Ranma's honesty that had gotten her over her anger rather quickly. The rest of the time was spent mentally kicking herself for being so oblivious.

After she was done with her yoga, Akane told Ranma that she understood and while she was upset he kept it from her before, she was happy that he was being honest with her now. Ranma was pleasantly surprised when she pulled him into a deep kiss and then proceeded to give him a very intimate demonstration of her increased flexibility.

A month after they started dating, Ranma and Akane were out for their morning run. Anyone who knew them in high school would have instantly identified the pair. Ranma was wearing a red Chinese style top and black drawstring pants, his preferred exercise and lounging attire, and Akane was wearing a yellow gi.

As they reached the park, they faced off. Ranma still refused to go all out on Akane but he did spar with her, correcting minor mistakes as they went. Akane had aimed a round house kick followed by a punch at Ranma, who then jumped up and spun over her head landing behind her.

Suddenly, Akane found herself pressed against Ranma's chest, his arms wrapped around her. He nuzzled the back of her neck and whispered in her ear, "I don't want to wait anymore. Marry me, Akane. Not because of some agreement between our fathers, but because you want to spend the rest of your life with me."

He turned her around to face him, she looked into his eyes and her heart swelled seeing the love pouring through his baby blues. Ranma put one hand on her cheek and drew small circles on her face with his thumb. Smiling, she leaned her head into his palm, brought one hand up to hold his wrist, gripped it tightly, pivoted, and threw him over her shoulder.

With an "oof," he landed on his back and suddenly found the petite martial artist straddling his chest. Laughing she said, "You left yourself wide open." Akane then gave Ranma a kiss that made his toes curl. She pulled back, looked into his eyes and said, "Yes."

The next night, Ranma took Akane out for a romantic dinner and presented her with a princess cut diamond set on a platinum band.

The wedding and reception had gone exactly as they planned. Keeping their fathers drunk kept them from asking the newlyweds questions that would lead to arguments.

After the proposal, Ranma and Akane had started discussing their future together. They knew their fathers would want them to move back into the Tendo home and to reopen the dojo. They had quickly agreed that moving home would be a disaster, at least for now. Akane had mixed feelings about Ranma opening up the dojo and left the decision up to him. Akane had one caveat for him if he decided to continue working as a bodyguard; she hoped that he would travel less, a condition Ranma was more than happy to agree to.

After proposing, Ranma had left on a short trip to move out of his LA apartment, which he kept as a home base over the years. After growing up on the road and carrying everything he owned on his back, Ranma was accustomed to living frugally and sparsely, so getting everything packed, sold or donated went rather quickly. While he was there, he had reached out to some old contacts to discuss opening his own agency in Tokyo. When he returned and told Akane about his plan, she had whole heartedly approved and they agreed to talk to their fathers after the wedding.

At the end of dinner, they poured their fathers into the back of the car they had ordered and was waiting for them. They tipped the driver extra to make sure the men got safely into the house. Kasumi and Tofu had left earlier with their sons. They spoke a while longer with Nabiki, making plans for lunch the next day and then Ranma and Akane walked home hand-in-hand.

Ranma's favorite time of the day was in the evening, when the pair readied themselves for bed, and not for the obvious reasons. He loved sitting in bed, with the comforter around him as he watched Akane go through her nightly ritual. The sight of her freshly scrubbed face always gave Ranma flashbacks of a sixteen year old Akane and never failed to bring a smile to his face.

As he watched his wife fall asleep, wrapped in his arms, a new feeling washed over Ranma; a sense of contentment.

A/N: This story was partially inspired by Ranma, The Second Time Around by kayemsi. In The Second Time Around, Ranma says by the time he was killed, they were all in college and had spent 5 years without him making a decision on who he wanted to be with. It got me thinking, would Akane really have stayed around for it all? Part of me said, yes! Of course she would, she loved him and they belonged together. Another part of me said no. Akane would have gotten tired of the situation and tried to do something about it. Ranma is of course, the biggest catalyst for change in the Ranmaverse. But I feel that Akane can also really affect the story line if she took action.

As I mentioned in the first chapter, I've updated the story, adding in some more details and cleaning up the grammar. Kayko made a comment in her/his review that I didn't mention what became of Ryoga, so addressed that this time around.

I really hope you liked the story and I appreciate all of those who already left a review. Reviews are like crack and they really do inspire me to continue writing. So leave me a note if you can!