This idea has been playing around in my head a lot. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it as much, if not more, as I've enjoyed writing it.

Akane was woken up by her actual alarm clock, which confused her. She had been woken up by the sound of battle for the last two years. At first it had scared her, she had never heard anything like what those two were doing. Then she had gotten used to it. It had become a comfort to her almost. She hadn't realized how much she missed the sound until it had stopped about a week ago.

Aunt Nodoka had moved in after the wedding, saying that someone rational had to keep an eye on everyone. Since then Uncle Saotome and Ranma's morning training sessions were delayed until after breakfast. All fighting had stopped until after school, even though both she and Ranma continued doing morning exercises. It was the one time of day that they could get along really. No one really bothered them until they were on their way to school.

It was mornings like this though that made her panic. Even though intellectually she knew what was going on, and would most likely see him in the yard doing his morning stretches, she still worried that he would leave her. 'It doesn't matter if he does,' she reassured herself, 'After all the engagement was our parents idea.' She had been telling herself this for years, and even now it still sounded hollow.

She sat up stretching, and noticed that something was tickling the small of her back. 'Poor P-Chan,' she thought, 'I must have rolled over and squished him again.' When she turned to find her poor pet she saw nothing. P-Chan wasn't there, nor was there anything that could have tickled her back. She glared at the crumpled sheets and pillowcases before she got up and looked for something to wear. First, she looked for a clean warm-up outfit, set that on her bed, and dug through her closet for something to wear for the rest of the day. It was Sunday so there was no school.

She decided on a dress that ended just above her knees. In fact, it was the dress that she was wearing when she and Ranma became engaged for the first time. 'Of course the pervert was probably remembering what I looked like naked,' she practically growled at the memory of that day. It was a happy growl, but she would deny it if anyone even thought of accusing her of that.

After choosing her outfits, she started brushing her hair. That's when she knew for sure that something wasn't right. Her brush started at the top of her head and kept going past the three inches where it should have stopped. It kept going, and as she followed the path with her eyes. Hair that shouldn't be attached to her head was there. It was the dark midnight that the rest of her hair was, but it was just too long. 'I haven't had hair this long since it got cut off in that fight between Ranma and Ryouga,' she remembered. It had been one of the most horrible days of her life, because she had had to let go of one of her fondest dreams. It had also been one of the best days of her life, because she had gotten her first compliment from Ranma.

She rushed to the closest mirror, and felt tears prickle at her eyes at what she saw. It was back. Her hair was back! She finished brushing it, and looked for a ribbon. She wasn't expecting to find any because she had thrown them out after her hair had been cut, but she did. She found them right where she remembered storing them when she had them. This would have made her suspicious, but she was too happy to care. She rushed down the stairs and found her older sister Kasumi starting the preparations for breakfast.

"Kasumi!" she shouted in joy and hugged her sister. "Look at my hair!" She would have gone on about how great it was to have it back, but she was so overcome, that all she could think of doing was hug her sister tighter.

"Did you do something different with it Akane?" her sister asked, "Because it looks very nice this morning." It was like someone had splashed her with cold water.

"What are you talking about Kasumi?" Akane asked quietly, "It's back!"

"Oh?" Kasumi sounded distracted, as she returned to preparing breakfast. "Did it go somewhere?"

"Huh?" Akane knew that sometimes Kasumi didn't notice the obvious, but she was always good about noticing things that were important to other people. She wasn't sure what to say to her sister, so she walked away; very disappointed that something so important to her had gone unnoticed.

'Ranma will notice once I point it out to him,' she thought as she went out into the yard to start her morning exercise. There was no one there 'Must have already gone on his jog,' she thought, as she started doing her stretches. Once she was limber enough to start the jog, she was out the gate and on her way.

She took her time on her morning jog. Everything had seemed to be off this morning, until she started running. 'This feels right,' she thought idly as she lost herself in the movement of her body. It ended too soon though, but she was happy again. She was going to enjoy the fact that her hair was back, and if no one said anything about it, she'd just chock it up to the oddness of living in Nerima.

A quick change from her jogging clothes into her gi, and she started stacking cinder blocks. She breathed in deeply, to center herself, and with one swift punch, every single one of them broke.

"Ahh," she said to herself, "that was nice." She knew it was weird, and probably not the best habit to get herself into, but she just enjoyed the feeling of controlling her destructive power. She knew she had the power to destroy buildings if she really wanted to, but being able to release it in small doses was fun.

"There you go again Akane," Nabiki said from somewhere behind her. "No wonder the boys all think you're weird." It was an argument that they had had before, and Akane wasn't in the mood for it. She hadn't seen Ranma all morning and it was beginning to worry her.

"So why should I care?" she shot back with a barely concealed glare, "Not everybody thinks the world revolves around boys Nabiki." Something about today was beginning to nag at the back of her mind. 'It's probably just a sense of déjà vu,' she assured herself.

"No?" Nabiki said slyly, Akane knew that tone of voice, and like a lemming allowed it to lead her wherever it wanted. "Then I guess this wouldn't interest you." Akane followed her to where her father and Kasumi were sitting with glasses of ice tea for everyone. Nabiki sat down and Akane followed suit.

'I've done this before,' she thought with growing certainty. The look in her father's eyes confirmed it. "I've just gotten a letter confirming that your fiancé has arrived."

"Fiancé!" Akane shouted out of reflex. 'He's trying to do this to us again? Isn't it bad enough that he engaged me to Ranma, but now he's going to do it to Kasumi or Nabiki!'

"Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine," Father explained, "The son's name is Ranma Saotome…" Akane's mind went blank, and she felt the world go black.

She woke up shortly after she had heard Ranma's name. Kasumi's concerned face was hovering over hers. "She's awake," Kasumi called to someone who wasn't in her line of sight. Father's face appeared above hers, tears streaming down his face.

"My poor baby girl!" he shouted, "You're okay!"

"W-what happened?" Akane asked shakily as she started to get up.

"Daddy announced that one of us was getting engaged and you fainted," Nabiki said from the table. She seemed unconcerned about her sister's condition, but she never looked concerned about anything, so Akane wasn't too upset.

"Oh," Akane said smartly. 'What do I do?' she started panicking. 'What am I doing two years in the past?' This thought struck her as funny, but she stopped herself from laughing aloud, otherwise they would think she was going crazy. 'Now, what did I say after hearing about the engagement?'

"That's right!" she shouted, "Don't we have some say in who we marry?"

"Akane's right daddy," Kasumi said backing her up, "We've never even met Ranma."

"That's easily fixed," Father said. He started explaining about how Mr. Saotome and Ranma were returning from a ten-year training trip. Akane kind of tuned this out because she had heard it before. 'How am I going to deal with meeting Ranma again, and being the only one who remembers that we've met already?' This thought made her head hurt a little, so she stopped thinking it. She tuned back in when she heard the familiar sounds of Ranma and Mr. Saotome fighting.

Nabiki and Father ran towards the front door. Kasumi followed at a more sedate pace, and Akane trailed after her, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Father and Nabiki came running back at them, full speed. Following them was Mr. Saotome in his panda for. Akane knew that over his shoulder was Ranma, but only because she had been through this before.

"Hey? Yo!" Ranma's voice came from above her father's shoulder, "you're scaring 'em spit less!" Akane felt a happy tingle run up her spine as she heard her fiancé's voice for the first time. 'No, he's not my fiancé yet,' she thought. This saddened her, but she reassured herself that he would be again soon.

In the background she heard Kasumi and Nabiki talking, "Daddy… Is this your friend?" Akane assumed that her father was shaking his head because she heard Nabiki shout, "Oh, so this panda decided to visit! Happens all the time!" Akane couldn't take her eyes off of Ranma. 'She looks so cute,' she thought as Ranma was placed in front of Father.

"You… wouldn't be…" Father started.

"Ranma Saotome," she answered, fiddling with her braid, "Sorry 'bout this." Akane slid her eyes up and down Ranma's body, and wondered why no one had noticed that she was female.

"At last!" Father shouted, "You've come!"

"Oooo! He's cute," gushed Nabiki, and Akane barely repressed the urge to glare at her sister. A primal part of her, the same part that had been howling when Nabiki and Ranma were engaged, growled threateningly, 'Mine.'

"It's so good of you to come so…" Father was shouting as he embraced Ranma. Akane cringed when her father froze. He pulled away from Ranma, who was pouting cutely, and stared in shock. Kasumi and Nabiki were also silent as they studied Ranma closely.

Nabiki walked up to Ranma, and before Akane could stop her, started poking at Ranma's breast. "Hmmm," she said, as she started poking harder.

"Um, could you stop that?" Ranma muttered.

" "He" is a girl," Nabiki said, pointing out the obvious. Father hit the ground really hard. Akane and Kasumi picked Father up with a practiced ease, and everyone moved into the living room, where Nabiki started moving furniture and setting up the emergency futon. The one they used when Father fainted while they had guests.

"Oh poor Daddy," the ever-kind Kasumi said as she dampened a cloth for him. "He's so disappointed."

"He's disappointed," spat Nabiki, "Some fiancé this is!"

Akane felt her protective instincts kick in, "Stop it you two!" she scolded, "He…" 'Wait, I'm not supposed to know that she is actually a boy yet!' "She… is out guest!"

"This is all your fault Daddy!" Nabiki shouted, ignoring Akane's scolding, "You should have made sure!"

"Well he said he had a son!" Protested Daddy rudely.

"Do you see a son here? Hmmm? Do you?" Demanded Nabiki as she squeezed one of Ranma's breasts in what looked like a painful manner.

"Ummm…" Ranma started, "I really wish you would stop that." Akane could tell that Ranma was getting angry and embarrassed.

She stood up suddenly and leaned over Ranma. She could feel the opening of her gi loosening around her throat, but she knew that she wasn't showing him anything, so she wasn't too embarrassed. "Hey, join me in the practice hall?" she invited. 'This feels right. Go with it,' she told herself as she continued, "I'm Akane, you want to be friends?"

Ranma smiled at her in a shy, endearingly cute smile, and Akane beamed back. 'Where did we go wrong?' Akane asked herself, 'We started out great, but somewhere it all fell apart.' As she led Ranma to the dojo, she tried to pinpoint why they had been in such a stalemate for such a long time.

She showed Ranma where he could find some practice weapons, practice mats, the work out towels, and her stash of cinder blocks. When she finished with the tour, Akane was trying to decide what to do next.

"You do martial arts don't you?" Ranma asked her, 'Wait, that's not how it's supposed to go,' Akane thought as she stared at Ranma.

"A little," she said carefully, "Why, do you want to have a little match?" Ranma hesitated, 'That's more like it.' "Just for fun," assured Akane. She didn't add that she wouldn't hurt Ranma this time. That had been just plain arrogant. 'But I'm going to win this time,' she thought as Ranma agreed to the match.

As they got into their positions, Akane took a deep cleansing breath. Over the years she had learned that she needed to stay cool in order to hit Ranma. Unfortunately, that didn't happen too often, because he could be really annoying, but if she remembered correctly, he didn't talk during the match. 'Just dodged,' she spat mentally.

Akane charged, fists flying strait and true towards Ranma's head. She just jumped daintily out of the way. The kick Akane sent her way was likewise dodged, but Akane could tell that she was getting closer. Two more dodges and Akane could feel herself getting frustrated.

"What's wrong?" she demanded, "You can swing at me. I won't break." She knew it wouldn't change anything, because Ranma doesn't hit girls, but she thought she would open up that invitation. She readied another punch, and sent it flying. Ranma slowly dodged, and Akane got herself ready for her last attack, only to find that Ranma had gotten a hold of her wrist, and twisted it around in such a way that she felt her arm go behind her, and her back hit his chest.

Akane stood there panting, stunned that things had gone differently then she remembered. Then she decided that she should do something about it, and twisted, so that she was facing her, her grip on her wrist loosened slightly so that Akane could actually do it without hurting herself.

She looked into Ranma's eyes, and debated continuing. She could do something about it, but she didn't want to let her competitive nature take hold of her. Akane recognized that Ranma was allowing her to continue moving, but even if he wasn't she could have continued. It just would have hurt more.

She started chuckling quietly. 'I think I like this Ranma better already,' she thought. Losing the way she had last time had really hurt her pride. Ranma started joining her in the laughter.

Once it petered out Akane started talking again, "Ahem," she said clearing her throat, "You're… pretty good," she conceded. There was a gaping silence as she waited for Ranma to respond. "How'd you get so fast?" she asked finally, to break the silence.

Ranma seemed a little taken aback by the question, "Uh, well Pops normally has me fight with my pack on," she explained. "I guess it's pretty heavy."

"That's right," Akane said, grasping onto the new conversational straw, "You've been on a really long training trip. That must have been really fun."

"It was okay I guess," she shrugged. 'Ranma didn't really like talking about his trip,' thought Akane.

"Well you'll have to tell me more about it later," she offered as she started leaving. "Make yourself at home."

Akane started doing some cool down katas, in an attempt to allow Ranma a chance to take his bath before she took hers. When she thought she had allowed him enough time she went back into the house. She was moving through the house on the way to her room when Nabiki's head popped out from around a corner.

"Akane!" she called, "Bath's ready!"

"Thanks," Akane said. 'Maybe this time Ranma and I can be friends,' she thought idly as she brushed her fingers through her new, lush locks. She hummed happily as she gathered her bathing supplies and practically skipped to the bathroom.

She listened at the door, triple checking that Ranma was finished. When she heard nothing she removed her clothes, putting them in the clothing hamper, and opened the door to the bathroom.