based on: Castaway

notes: Because that last scene between Chuck and Kelly broke my heart.

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Six years. That was a long time to be gone. His face is unreadable, blue eyes unfocused. Ryoga hands him a drink.

"Look, Ranma, everyone was devastated when they heard about the accident," Ryoga sighs. "Most especially...We spent a year looking for you."

"I know," Ranma replies simply. He runs a hand over his face and pulls on his pigtail. He got his hair trimmed and it is now nice and clean.

"We held...a funeral for you. It was weird. We didn't have a body so we put stuff that reminded us of you in the casket. It was Nabiki's idea."

"I heard...she's with someone else now."

Ryoga coughs uncomfortably. Of course Ranma will want to talk about this. "Married two years ago."

Ranma smiles, but it's bittersweet. "At least she isn't unhappy anymore."

Ryoga looks at his (once) bestfriend. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

Ranma stands in the middle of the dojo, eyes tracing the scars caused by him many, many years ago. It looks exactly the same, save for the name plates of the new students hanging on the north wall. There's a pitter patter of footsteps behind him.

"The tea's ready."

Akane. Her hair is longer now but she looks exactly the same. Still as beautiful as ever.

"Lead the way, milady."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Dummy. I'm sure you still know where the dining room is." She hasn't changed at all. They walk through the house and Ranma gets a glimpse of how life in the Tendo household currently is. There's a baby bottle by the phone, a cleaning rag by the corner - Akane must have been cleaning before he arrived - and some framed photos hanging on every other wall.

Akane with her sisters on one of her birthdays. Akane with her best friend Sayuri on graduation day. Akane with her husband on her wedding day.

"So, Daisuke, huh," Ranma chuckles. He sits by the kotatsu table and he doesn't miss the baby carrier beside him.

"Hmm?" Akane brings in her daughter and places her in the carrier beside Ranma. "Be good to Uncle Ranma while mama gets him tea," she tells the child, popping a pacifier in her mouth.

Ranma is mesmerized. "You're such a mom."

"If the shoe fits," Akane replies absently and heads towards the kitchen. He stares back at the baby. She sucks on her pacifier, looking at him with big brown eyes. She looks just like Akane.

Akane comes back to the dining room, bringing a tray tea and mochi. Ranma automatically stands to help her. They set the table together and lapse in comfortable silence. A cup of tea later, and Akane starts talking.

"After you were officially declared...dead, I went away for awhile. Some camping here and there, sports all over the place. I gave up martial arts for a bit," she confesses, looking at Ranma with sad eyes. "I turned into an adrenaline junkie of sorts, engaging in extreme sports."

"That ain't a lot different from martial arts," he remarks. Akane gives him a small smile.

"Yeah but it's a different feeling, you know? Anyway, I joined this snowboarding competition and got a little too cocky. The wind's in my hair and I'm climbing up, up, up, laughing since I was in the lead. Next thing I know my face is full of snow and my leg was on fire. Broken in two places."

"Still a clumsy tomboy, eh?"

"There wasn't a Ranma to rescue the clumsy tomboy." That shuts him up. She continues after a while, "I was taken to the hospital. Apparently Daisuke was temporarily assigned in that hospital - he was studying to be a doctor then. He became part of the team who fixed me up."

Akane has a faraway look on her face as she scoots towards her daughter to lightly ruffle her hair. "And I guess one thing led to another and here we are. Kind of hard to believe."

Her daughter squeals and throws her pacifier on the table. "She's a handful."

Ranma fingers the pacifier. "She probably inherited a violent streak from her ma."

"Hopefully she won't be uncute," Akane retorts and they both laugh. She smiles at him, and he's taken back to the first day they met. Sixteen and so, so young. He doesn't want to dwell on the past so he looks somewhere else.

"You have my stuff ready?"

Akane blinks at him and the joy slowly drains out of her face. "Yeah, the boxes are in the guest room upstairs…"

"Thanks for holding on to this for me," he says as places the last of the boxes in the trunk of his rented car.

"You know I couldn't..." Akane leaves the sentence hanging, and slightly shakes her head. Her hands are clasped demurely in front of her. "I should go back, check up on Rinko's nap."

"Yeah...yeah go." Ranma places his hands in his pockets and lightly swings on his heels. There's an unspoken distance between them. After all, six years is a long time.

She squeezes his arm. "Feel free to drop by, okay?" She smiles at him again, but it's a sad one. He thinks her eyes are a bit wet.

She walks back to the dojo. He walks to the driver's side of the car.

He feels her hesitation -

"Ranma!"

Akane runs back and throws her arms around his neck in a desperate hold. "I always knew you were alive, I knew it. Everybody said I had to let you go," she sobs. "I love you, Ranma. You're the love of my life."

They both know they won't be able to do this again. So he brings his arms around her, too. He cries with her but he doesn't know what to say.

"It's not your fault, 'Kane." His voice is hoarse. He doesn't want to let go.

Now it's his turn to hesitate. This has to end sooner or later; she's married, with a daughter, and dammit, he won't ruin her new life with his disruptive presence.

He waits a beat, then steps back. He wipes the tears off her face.

"I love you, too, 'Kane. More than you'll ever know." He turns around. He takes the first painful step away from her.

And he doesn't look back.

notes 2: Eeep. End dialogue lifted directly from the movie. It was just so saaaad. I kept it intentionally vague but idea is Ranma went off to some adventure, some accident happened, and he was proclaimed dead since no one can find him. But he's still alive! And here you go.

Anyway, I am rusty. This is another practice exercise for me. Ranma and Akane are actually my first ever OTP and I was a bit disappointed with the manga's ending. But I am glad that Rumiko Takahashi said that they were meant to be together. And that's all that matters.