"I never got to tell Akane that I love her!"

Akane's eyes opened, and again she was in her room. She let out a sigh. Ever since that day in China, she had dreamed about her coming back to life.

Not the moment she awoke from what should have been her final sleep, but the moments before she was in Ranma's arms.. She didn't know if it was a memory of just her dreams embellishing a miracle more than it needed to be. She was standing at the gates of a massive palace. One that was beautiful beyond reckoning, and expanded infinitely in all directions. Beyond the gate she could hear familiar sounding voices laughing and having a good time. She knew, somehow, that whatever revelry was going on within that palace was for her. A celebration of her life. But just as she was about to step past the threshold, she heard Ranma's cries. A pained, sharp cry begging for her to live. Akane was unable to leave him, so after hearing him she turned from the palace and walked down the road towards a distant light.

At which point the dream ended. Now Akane was sitting up in her room, pondering it's meaning. It's not like seemingly coming back to life had created any further grand miracles. Seeing as how she wasn't married to Ranma. Still, she had her hope. He had said he loved her, maybe they just weren't ready to be married yet? So she began to get dressed, ready for another ordinary day.

"Ranma Saotome you will pay!"

Oh yes. More ordinary than usual.

Akane came down to the living room to see whatever challenger was attacking Ranma this time around. Sure enough, just out in the yard Ranma was in the middle of Yet Another Fight. Usually they didn't start so early in the morning, but Ranma just tended to attract them. Judging by how the challenger had sworn vengeance on Ranma himself Akane guessed that this wasn't a Dojo challenger, nor one of the many skeletons in Genma's closet. So what had Ranma done either deliberately or inadvertantly to annoy today's opponent?

This time the rival was an older man. He looked fairly old, older looking than her father. His long hair was peppered with grey. He had a fairly dark tan, rather muscled arms and was wearing a dark red yukata. He was holding a shinai in both hands. The shinai being the weapon he was attempting to beat up Ranma with.

"Look what did Pops do to you old man?" Ranma said, dodging several strikes before throwing out a couple dozen near instant punches at his opponent. She had gotten better at seeing his strikes recently, able to process every blow despite the absurd speed he had picked up over the year he had been engaged to her.

To Akane's surprise, and Ranma's from the look of it, the man blocked every single one with his shinai. He did it with minimum movement as well, flicking his wrists out just enough to deflect each strike. Whoever this man was, he was no slouch when it came to combat. "Your lout of a father didn't do anything! It's you boy. You think you can stand up a girl at her wedding and escape divine punishment?"

Both Ranma and Akane's eyes met. The Wedding had been yesterday, and today Soun had been ready to call a meeting on what was do be done after the entire mess got bombed and the Jusenkyo water lost. So what was this man angry about? Taking another look at him, she felt some pang of familiarity. Had they met? Why was he angry over her wedding?

It was at this point that Kasumi, having finished breakfast, came out to the living room. Glancing out to the yard, she noticed the commotion. "...Grandfather?"

At those words a flash of memory came to Akane. The older man and her mother, both playing a game with her. "Wait.. what? Grandfather?" Akane finally asked.

The man grinned, waving to Akane, and Akane realized he had the same sort of confident smirk she had seen on Nabiki's face countless times before. "That's right Akane. Don't worry, I'll punish this useless boy in a-" While Grandfather Tendo had been waving to Akane, Ranma had tried to sneak up on him. It didn't work, he caught Ranma's kick from behind, swung around, threw him into the pond. "Thousand years too early to sneak up on me boy!" He said, laughing. Then, as Ranma pulled herself out of the pond. "...wait. Boy?"

"Wait, Grandfather!" Akane called out, "Um, it's not Ranma's fault, well, not entirely his fault, that the wedding failed, so you don't have to beat him up."

"You think some dried up old punk is going to beat me?" Ranma growled.

"I didn't say that Ranma! I just don't want you to fight after seeing my Grandfather again since… since…."

"We last saw Grandfather at Mother's funeral, Akane." Kasumi said softly, "He said he was going on a training journey around the world." She had already taken out a towel for Ranma to dry herself off with.

Grandfather Tendo folded his arms. "Hmm, I see. So you don't want him to be punished?"

"Not for this Grandfather." Akane said.

"Hey!" Ranma protested, she rushed toward Grandfather Tendo, ready to continue the right.

"By the way, Akane, why does your fiance have tits now?" Grandfather Tendo asked, ducking under a punch thrown by Ranma without even looking behind him.

"Um… it's a curse…." Akane mumbled.

"A curse?" He tapped his foot, his eyes closed in thought. All the while still dodging Ranma's attacks with effortless ease. Then he opened his eyes. "Ah Ha! Right! A Jusenkyo curse! Goodness, I haven't seen one of those in a while!" Grandfather Tendo laughed, and in a single bound jumped over to the veranda, leaving Ranma to gawk at the empty air she managed to kick.

It did not take long for the parents in the household to notice Grandfather Tendo's presence.

Soun, of course, burst into tears. "It's been so long!" He said, hugging the man.

"Good to see you haven't changed Soun." Grandfather Tendo said with a laugh. He hugged Soun back. The two men taking a moment to silently catch up, emotionally.

"Oh this is a surprise." Nodoka said happily. "It's an honor to meet you Mr. Tendo."

"Course not, meeting a lovely woman like you is an honor for me." Grandfather Tendo said with a wink and a bow.

"So this your Father-in-Law Tendo?" Genma asked. Giving Grandfather Tendo a glare at being openly flirty with his wife, but also knowing that if he had been able to deal with Ranma so easily he doubted that he could do anything abut it.

"Indeed he is. I remember meeting him shortly before proposing to my dear wife." Soun said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Ah I remember that day." Grandfather Tendo said, "Wore full armor and had the family sword out." Both men laughed, the years making the memory amusing to both.

"It's nice to see you again Grandfather." Kasumi said.

"And it's wonderful to see that all my granddaughters have grown up." Grandfather Tendo said. "I heard about your wedding Akane and came back to Japan… but I had then heard when I arrived that it had been ruined." He glanced over to Ranma, who was male again. "If you weren't stood up, how'd it happen?"

Akane groaned, not really wanting to go through the memory of that mess. Even if he was her Grandfather, she could barely remember him. Still, better her than say, Genma. "Basically other girls after Ranma threw bombs, then Mr. Saotome tried to steal the cure to Ranma's curse that was going to be a wedding gift… and it all ended in a mess." Akane said.

The next thing anybody knew, Genma was slammed into the floor by a shinai. "I see, that's very stupid of your father Ranma. Sorry for being so hasty. Always been a weakness of mine, just ask my sister."

Ranma frowned, but decided that if the old man wasn't going to pick a fight with him anymore there wasn't a point to starting one now. Maybe later they could have a rematch.

"Still, quite a surprise to see you as spirited as ever Grandfather." Kasumi said cheerfully.

"Of course!" Grandfather Tendo laughed.

Once breakfast was over, it was time to go to school, again. It would be the first day heading back since the wedding. Which meant there would be all kind of awkward questions. Still, Akane had figured out the most reasonable answer to why she wasn't Mrs. Saotome. All she had to do was say that the other girls blew it up so it was delayed until they could figure out how to have a wedding. That is essentially what Soun had said just before they left for school, after all. All Ranma had to do was…

"Ranma." Akane said once they were a short distance from the school.

"Hmm?" Ranma, who had been walking next to her, glanced over at his still-fiancee. "What?"

"If anybody asks, it's the bombs are the reason we're not married." Akane said seriously.

"W-what?" Ranma stuttered, "B-but-"

"Ranma!" Akane grabbed his collar, "I swear to god..." a faint rumble of thunder in the distance, "...if you humilate me by doing your usual denial of emotions bullshit I'll… I'll….!" Akane's voice trailed off, "I'll break it off for real!" She finally managed to force out. Her eyes were wide, her breathing became heavy. "I can't… I can't deal with that! I know what I heard, I swear I came back to life for you and… and…" She noticed that some people were staring and backed off, blushing. "Sorry…"

Ranma waved off the, well, the freak out. Honestly Ranma was surprised Akane had managed to keep so calm from the entire tripe back from China to the Wedding. "It's fine… I mean… err…" There was an awkward silence, Ranma did not want to think about that moment when he thought Akane was dead, not in the slightest. "Right, err, I'll just say it was the bombs."

Akane let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you." She said quietly.

Ranma, however, noticed her hands were shaking. "Err, you OK? Not sick or anything?"

"I'm fine Ranma. I just… I've felt tense… for a while. Ever since… well you know." Akane glanced away, "I feel like I'm shaken up and about to burst open, and I just…" Akane trailed off. "Let's just go to school."

Ranma nodded, and the two continued their walk, soon reaching the gates of Furinkan High.

"Akane Tendo!" And at the gat was a group of familiar boys. Natrually word of the failure of Akane's wedding had reached their ears. So they charged her, weapons and hopes held high.

"Ah no doubt you inherited my dear little Princess's talent in the kitchen Kasumi." Grandfather Tendo said, sipping his tea.

Kasumi smiled at the compliment, "Thank you Grandfather."

"It is good to see you again." Soun said, "Been many years."

"That it has. But, I realized moping around for a decade, well, wasn't quite my style. My dear sister dragged me out and beat me into the ground for a few hours after finding out!" Grandfather Tendo laughed.

"Your sister?" Genma asked.

"Oh yes. Terrifying woman." Grandfather Tendo said, "But regardless, I'm bit worried about dear Akane. I can't imagine the stress of the situation is good for her."

"Well the wedding can't go on until the other problems are dealt with." Soun said.

"Ah yes, the boy's other love interests. Well, I guess any man worthy of my Granddaughters would acquire admirers," Eyes narrowed, "How did he attract them?"

(The phone rang, "I'll get it." Kasumi said.)

Genma and Nodoka both picked up sudden dangerous aura Grandfather Tendo was putting out. Something told them he still wasn't exactly happy with Ranma. "Err, mostly by accident." Genma said, "Girls become infatuated with my son, and these particular girls just won't take no for an answer."

("Nabiki? What is it?"" )

"Right, they're just very enthusiastic friends of Ranma's." Nodoka said, smiling politely. Very enthusiastic friends who had wrecked her house.

("Oh my. Should I tell father? Hmm… well thank you for telling me." Kasumi hung up.)

"Hmm… well I just hope that Akane doesn't get any major sources of stress until I can help her relax…" Grandfather Tendo mused.

"What kind of stress?" Kasumi asked, stepping back from the phone.

"Pretty much anything?" Grandfather Tendo said, "I fear she may be a bit of a pressure cooker right about now."

"...would a group of boys who used to attack Akane thinking she'd go on a date with them if they won. Who have come back after hearing the wedding failed so thinking she's single again… count?" Kasumi said very quickly.

There was a long, tense silence, before Grandfather Tendo stood up, "Excuse me Soun, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to go over to Akane's school to withdraw her for the day."

"Err, why do you think that's necessary?" Soun asked.

"Well I'd like to prevent the school and half this ward from being destroyed." Grandfather Tendo said, "So… see you in a bit!" And then Grandfather Tendo vanished. Not ran off in a hurry. No he simply was no longer there in the space between seconds.

"Oh what the hell." Ranma said, staring at the charging horde. Not these idiots again! Ranma stepped ahead of Akane. He was going to beat these guys faces in himself.

"No." Akane said, and something about her tone made even Ranma turn around.

Even the idiot boys stopped charging.

Because Akane was glowing. Not like, in the way you'd expect a battle aura to glow. A battle aura was more emotional pressure than anything physical. Akane had somehow become a source of light, glowing with electric blue sparks. Even the charging idiots stopped to stare.

Well, except for the biggest idiot of them all. "Akane Tendo now that you are free of the vile engagement towards Saotome you can finally accept my challenge and we can date!" Tatewaki Kuno reached Akane, bokken held high.

"No!" Akane shouted, and a bolt of lightning hit Kuno. The skies were clear, but from nowhere lighting hit the idiot. He fell to the ground, twitching a little. "I am not dealing with this! I... ugg... oh god..."

"Err… Akane?" Ranma asked.

"Aggggghhhh…" Akane moaned, clutching her head the glow around her becoming brighter. "Ranma… no.. I don't want those…"

"Akane, are you -"

A burst of electricity arced out from Akane's body, very nearly hitting Ranma. It would have if he hadn't dodged it so quickly. "Akane!" he yelled, rushing towards her. Another arc nearly hit him, but he kept on going. The ground started buckling between Akane's feet, the ground cracking and the sky darkening.

"Akane!" Ranma shouted, wrapping his arms around her. "You OK!?"

"Uhhggg this hurts… Ranma it hurts.." Akane said, "AAAAAAaaahhhhh! She screamed as the clouds around them erupted into torrential rain. Lightning striking around them, the winds spiraling. Ranma was reminded of the time the two of them had been in the middle of the tornado when he had used the Hiyru Shoten Ha on Happosai. Except this storm was much worse.

Oh, and then lightning began hitting Akane. While it didn't seem to affect her that much. Ranma winced at the sudden explosion of pain from the shocks flowing from her to him. "Ranma! L-let go!" She shouted.

"Like hell! Whoever's making this stupid storm is going to pay!" Ranma growled.

"..I think…" Lightning struck them both again… "I think I am!?"

"What?" Ranma shouted.

"Oh dear, I came a little late."

The storm stopped. No, not the storm. It was like the wind and rain had halted mid rage. Even a bolt of lightning was halted mid strike.

"The.. hell…" Ranma said, still holding onto Akane.

"G-grandfather?" Akane asked, wrapping her arms around Ranma tighter.

Akane's grandfather walked towards them, as he walked he seemed to de-age the wrinkles on his face fading, his hair turning jet black. His stance became straighter, taller, and in his hands was a long straight sword. "Still, good job there boy. Holding her like that helped, otherwise this whole place would be rubble!" He laughed, stopping a short distance from them.

"...what the hell? Who are you?!" Ranma clutched Akane harder.

A chuckle came out of his lips. "Ah, right, have to drop the glamour to use this blade." He said with a shrug, "Well, it was pretty inevitable. Now that I'm not a feeble old man to your eyes…"

"Feeble!?" Ranma shouted. "The hell you were feeble!"

"Ranma please don't shout at my grandfather like that." Akane said.

"He doesn't look much like a grandpa anymore Akane! Who the hell are you!?"

"I'd admonish you for your impotence and impatience if I didn't know my dear sister would immediately strike me down for the hypocrisy of that. " He said, laughing. "Now then, to calm my dear granddaughter down." He held up the blade, it gleamed, "Storm of the Goddess of Rain! In the name of my glorious self, Susano-o-no-Mikoto, you shall be calm and rest once more!"

"...wait did I really hear that name righttttt!?" Ranma shouted, as Susano-o brought down his sword, and in a flash time resumed, and the storm was gone.

He hit the ground with a hard thud, Akane passed out on top of him. Her grandfather was back to looking like an old man, and he laughed.

"Impressive! Maybe that young boy-slash-girl isn't quite the loser I thought he was," He said, "To hold her back like that, hmm… maybe I'll wait a bit for the divine punishment!"

Ranma looked down at Akane. Her hair had somehow grown longer again, and her face seemed different but in a way that Ranma somehow couldn't place.

"Well all's well that ends well." He said, "Oy, boy. Make yourself a bit more useful and carry her home. Now that I've successfully averted a terrible tragedy… ehehehe."

"W-wait a minute!" Ranma stood up, Akane in his arms. "You can't just throw all that junk out!? What makes you think I'm going to believe you!"

"What?" Susano-o said. "You seriously don't believe me kid?" He frowned, tapping his chin, "Am I getting old? Back in the day doing something like this I'd have a whole throng of worshipers coming to praise my divine name."

"You didn't do anything that impressive! A tornado? Big deal I can make one of those." Ranma said.

"Well aren't you the big man?" He asked. "Anyways, let's get Akane home, I don't think school is a good idea for either of you."

Ding-Dong. The doorbell rang, catching the ears of the adult residents of the Tendo Household.

"Oh I'll get it." Nodoka said, standing up from the table where she and Kasumi were having some tea, "You've been working much too hard."

"Oh but what if it's Grandfather and Akane?"

"Well all the more reason for me to see them. Akane will be marrying my son and getting to know her grandfather is very handy." Nodoka said, humming a cheerful tune as she headed to the front door. "Hell-"

Now, Nodoka was a fairly old fashioned woman. As if one couldn't tell by the fact that she always wore kimonos, carried around a katana, and actually expected her son to honor a Ritual Suicide pact if he failed in his Honorable task. However, the person at the door somehow managed to outdo her on that front. Wearing a far more elaborate red and white kimono than Nodoka had ever worn. Its sleeves spilled down to the ground, barely avoiding touching the ground. Her shiny black hair was equally long, hanging past her knees. Her bangs cut in the classical hime-cut style. A golden circlet with what appeared to be a disc on the front hung on her head.

Yet it was her face that shocked Nodoka the most. For a moment she was sure she was looking at Akane. But then she realized that it couldn't be Akane. She was older looking. Somewhat. Or maybe younger? Nodoka honestly couldn't tell. The woman had an ageless property to her.

Oh and much like Nodoka she was carrying a sword. Though this one was long and straight compared to the katana Nodoka usually carried.

"Hello." She said with faint smile. "This is the Tendo Residence, no?"

Nodoka nodded, slowly. "Yes. This is the Tendo Household, how may I assist you Miss...?"

"Oh good. And that idiot hasn't arrived?" She said.

Nodoka tilted her head, "Pardon?"

"A buffoon who swings around swords like they're toys." The lady said.

Nodoka thought for a moment about her son's friends. "I think the Kuno boy is at school." She said.

"Oh no. No not him. He's older looking, should look like he's in his 60s by now?" The kimono wearing lady said.

"Do you mean Grandfather Tendo?" Nodoka said. "He arrived just today, are you family?"

"Yes." She said.

"Oh how wonderful." Nodoka said with a smile. "What brings you here today? Come to see Soun's wonderful daughters? Your…" She paused as she tried to figure out what this woman's relationship to them were. "Nieces?"

"I'm here to stab that idiot." She answered.

There was a brief silence, "Pardon?"

She held up the sheathed sword. "I'm going to take this blade and stab him with it."

"You're going to try and kill Grandfather Tendo!?" Nodoka shrieked, eyes wide with panic.

"Nooo… stab him. He's too stupid to die." She put the sword back down, "If it makes you feel better I'll announce it and give him a chance to defend himself."

"Well, I suppose if it's a formal martial arts challenge…?" Nodoka said.

"Yes that sounds about right." The woman nodded, "So may I come in Mrs. Saotome?"

"Eh? I don't believe I introduced myself…"

She smiled vaguely. "I'm pretty observant."

Ranma trailed behind this weirdo who said he was Akane's Grandfather and the god Susano-o.

Which Ranma didn't believe for a second. For one thing, that was just a bit too crazy even for him. For another if he was Akane's Grandfather and a god then why hadn't he been around? Finally there was just a limit to the amount of nonsense that Ranma could deal with and he had never been a particularly religious person so getting deities involved sounded like a pain in the ass.

Still, there were more important things to worry about. Like the sleeping Akane being held in his arms. His eyes kept flicking down to her chest, to make sure the gentle rise and fall of her breath was still going on. Good. It wasn't like in China. When she had… been… still. No don't think about that. As if answering his prayers Akane's eyes began to flicker open. "Ranma…?" She looked around, "Uh, what just happened?"

"Heck if I know. This guy saying he's your gramps says he has answers."

"Rude. I am her gramps, same as always." The guy said.

Ranma scowled. "Hey, Akane, what's your grandpa's name?"

Akane didn't move from her place in Ranma's arms. She was pretty comfortable right here. "Uh… actually… no. I can't remember his name. I haven't seen him since I was, like, five Ranma." She looked over and noticed him walking ahead, "Oh! Grandfather! Sorry, what is your name?"

"Susano-o." He answered, casually.

Akane blinked, "Oh ha-hah. Really. What's your name."

"Well if you want to get technical it's Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto. Some guys know me as Kumano-Ketsumiko-no-Kami. And my sister knows me as "Asshole", "Moron" and "Buffoon" Mom calls me Su-chan, and me and Dad don't talk much."

"Ranma put me down." Akane said. Ranma did so. "Now listen here Grandpa now isn't the time for woah!" Akane tried to walk on her own two feet but stumbled over two things. One, she was still feeling very weak. And two, her hair was somehow as long as her entire body and she nearly tripped over it. "What the hell!?"

"Yeah your hair suddenly sprouted like a weed after that tornado." Ranma said, catching Akane once she started tripping.

"Careful Akane, you're not very strong at the moment. Most of your strength kind of blew out of you, literally. Going to take some bedrest before you can start up again." Susano-O said.

Ranma scooped Akane up, "And maybe get you a haircut."

"Won't do any good, it's part of her image now. Once she learns some control it can get to a more manageable level." Susano-O said, turning back for a moment to his alleged granddaughter. "And before you ask, I'll explain it once the whole family is gathered. This is kind of a big deal you know?"

It was at this point they finally reached the Tendo residence. "Ah, home sweet home!" He said with a smile, "Here we go you two, let's head in and tell Soun you're not coming to class to-"

"Brother you Idiot!" A voice rang out from the front gates, and before Ranma or Akane, or even their grandfather, could react. A red blur ran out from the house. Ranma and Akane both briefly saw it was a woman in a kimono. With a sword in her hands.

She then thrust that sword into Grandfather Tendo. Into his chest. through his chest. One could see the blade jutting out through his back.

Ranma's jaw hung low. Akane couldn't even find words. And for the man who was stabbed…?

He peered down at the blade in mild annoyance. "Ah, good afternoon Sister." He said in a dry tone. "I see you've decided my handling of the issue is poor."

"Is that all you have to say! Idiot! Fool! Moron!" She shouted, pulling the sword out and somehow avoiding the massive spray of blood.

It was by this point that the two teenagers noticed something was off. Like the fact that Akane's grandfather was treating being stabbed through the heart as something to be annoyed by.

"She's not in that bad a mood. She hasn't chopped me into 100 pieces and tossed me into Yomi." Susano-O explained.

"Only because Akane would get upset." She answered with a huff.

"And this doesn't!?" He asked.

"Oh come on. You're clearly fine, look she's realizing something's up already." She said.

"Who are you!?" Ranma shouted at the woman, "You show up out of nowhere and stab the old man but he doesn't seem to care and Akane's freaking out after just-" The woman lashed out with her hands, rubbing the sides of her fists on Ranma's temples. "Ow ow ow!"

"I like you worrying about Akane, but don't yell. It's rude." She said, looking down at Akane in his arms. "He seems to be a good boy. I'll approve of this marriage."

"Err…" Akane stared at her, "Thanks? Uh… do you need to approve of it?"

"Well I would hope Soun takes my input on the matter." She said brightly.

"Oh come on you've never been involved with her life." Susano-O complained.

"Only because you shut me out of it because you were sad over what happened to Tagori!" She shouted at him, "Now be quiet brother!"

Wait.. brother? "This guy says he's Susano-O…" Ranma said, "And you're his sister?"

Akane's eyes widened at her realizing of just what that implied. "Wait.. you're… saying that she's…"

The woman gave them a sunny smile. "That's about right. I am Amaterasu-Omikami, your grandmother Akane. It's nice to finally get to meet you!"

Akane decided this was too much, she had to be dreaming.