I love this couple so much and I believe it takes too long for them to be together on the story. So, I decided to make my wish come true!

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Takahashi Rumiko-sama.

I am tired of being strong

Akane woke up that day feeling different. She was… tired. Complete and irrevocably tired. She got up and dressed in a slow and sad rhythm. Why did she have to go to school anyway? All she did on that useless place was watching Ranma fight with the other boys.

Ranma…

She walked down the stairs in the same monotone rhythm she used before. She wished she could sleep a bit more, just a little bit more.

"Good morning, Akane." Kasumi wished, giving her a rice pot.

Akane was going to answer, but an unpleasant sight caught her attention: Shampoo and Ukyo were fighting; both girls were carrying plates of food, okonomiyaki and lamen, as Akane knew very well.

When Ranma saw her in the kitchen he froze and ran towards her.

"Akane, is not what you thinking! I didn't ask them to come over, I swear."

Akane opened a small sad smile. She was tired of being strong, she didn't feel the urge to hit him, or to yell at him. She wanted peace.

"Why are you telling me that, Ranma? Enjoy the food that two beautiful girls made just for you. Isn't that a big honor?"

And turned away from him, reaching for her shoes on the doorway. What could she do about him? He was not hers to control. She had no right to ask him to do anything.

She walked to school, feeling his presence behind her, but she didn't turn around or talked to him. She didn't want to do any of those things. When their day of school was over, she did the very same.

Why was she feeling all of this?

She ran back to her room and locked herself in. All she could possibly want, would never be hers…

"Hohohohoho! Tendo Akane!" The annoying voice came from the window. "I came here to fight you over my Ranma-sama! Hohoho!"

Akane grimaced. She forgot Kodachi wanted her Ranma too. And then she cursed herself for thinking of him as her Ranma. He was not hers and would never be.

"You have no need to fight with me, Kodachi. You want him you go to his room and get him."

Kodachi was shocked. Akane didn't want to fight for Ranma? Something was very wrong with the world then.

"Hohoho! You are giving up to easy, Tendo Akane." And she left.

Akane sighed and left the room. On her way to the dojo, she saw Kodachi hugging Ranma. Again, Ranma went pale when he saw the Tendo.

"Akane, please don't hit me! I didn't do anyting!"

Akane opened the same smile she gave him in the morning.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Ranma. I told you this earlier."

He grabbed her wrist before she could walk away from him again.

"What's happening to you, Akane?"

Akane smiled again.

"Nothing. I'm just saying the truth. It's not like we are truly engaged, you know."

He let her go, utterly disappointed.

"Of course, who would like to marry an ugly girl like you?"

Akane stopped looking at him and found a spot to stare in the wall.

"Exactly."

And she kept walking to the dojo. He was always so rude. Why he kept saying all those horrible things to her? She always tried her best to… Ah, never mind.

She prepared the bricks and put the wet towel on the top of them. There was nothing like a training session to send the stress away. With a quick movement she hit the bricks.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, falling into the floor, tears starting to soak her face.

Why? They always break… Why not today?

"Akane, are you okay?" Kasumi's voice sounded like music in her ears.

She ran to her sister's arms.

"Kasumi!" She cried.

"Akane… what happened to you?"

"I… I…" It was hard to speak with all those tears falling from her dark eyes. "I can't take it anymore, Kasumi. I am tired of being strong."

Kasumi smiled gently. She knew very well what was going on her sister's mind.

"No one never told you to be strong, Akane. You are because you want to."

"First it was Kodachi, and then Shampoo and now there's Ukyo too! I can't, I don't like to see him with all of them. And he treats them so much better than me!" She cried harder.

"That is not true, Akane."

"Yes, it is! He just stays around me because our fathers… Our fathers arranged our wedding. He doesn't like me, he doesn't want me."

"Akane, you are telling me that you would like to marry him… one day?" Kasumi was happy with what she was hearing. All she wanted was to her family to be happy.

"Yes. Of course I would like to marry him one day. But that is never going to happen because he will never be mine. And I'm tired to fight for this. I need to rest. I'm tired of Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo. I'm tired of trying to catch his attention." She let one last tear fall. "I'm giving up."

Ranma left the dojo in complete shock.

Yes. Of course I would like to marry him one day.

Akane's words were haunting his mind. But… she had said…

It's not like we are truly engaged, you know.

So, why she told Kasumi she would like to marry him? Damn. I shouldn't have ran to the dojo when I heard her screaming.

She was acting so weirdly. Why she didn't manage to break the bricks? She did it every day three or four times.

He blushed when he remembered her words one more time. What he would do now? She was sad. And it was all his fault.

He didn't want Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo fighting over him. He didn't love any of the three girls. He loved Ak-…

And it hit him as his father's attempts to wet him with buckets of cold water. There was need for her to suffer. He loved her too.

How could he be so damn stupid?

She was alone in the dojo again. After all, Kasumi had lots of other things to do, she couldn't stay hours wiping the tears of a weak and stupid girl.

Akane cursed herself. Look what I become. What of the use of being weak? How would she protect herself now that she didn't even manage to break some bricks?

She looked to pile again; the towel was still wet. She breathed and stared. I can do it.

"Oe, Akane."

She looked to the owner of the voice. Of course she already knew it was Ranma's voice.

"Can I train with you?"

Akane sighed.

"Yes, sure."

He smiled and got ready for her attack. And she did attack, but it was not the same. He could feel her hesitation, her fear, her pain. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer to him.

Akane's heart accelerated. He was so close. So, so close…

"Don't do it." She said.

Ranma stopped and stared at her.

"If you want to play with Shampoo and Ukyo, it's fine. You can even mess up with Kuno-senpai in your girl form. But, please, don't do that to me."

His grip loosened and she walked away.

"But, Akane… I'm not playing."

But she was already too far to listen.

"I'm home." Akane announced.

"Hi, Akane." Kasumi answered. "Ranma didn't come with you?"

"No. He said he had something else to do."

"Oh, yes, he told me about that."

Akane looked at her puzzled.

"Akaneee!" Nabiki's voice was loud and clear. "Come on, you have to be dressed up better."

"What? Are you crazy? Why would I change my clothes for something better? I'm home, soon I'll be sleeping."

Nabiki sighed and pushed her sister to her bedroom. On the way, Akane saw her father and Genma crying and mumbling how happy they were.

What's going on here?

"Nabiki! I don't want to put a dress! Stop!"

"Yare, yare. You're such a difficult person, Akane. Do as I say and shut up."

Akane gave up. She was really tired, so she let her sister push her to the bathroom and then, let her put the dress.

It was a cute dress, anyways. It was a summer dress of a light shade of blue and a white ribbon on the waist.

"Wow, it looks beautiful on you, Akane."

Akane blushed when she saw herself in the mirror.

"Why you dressed me this way?"

Nabiki laughed.

"You will thank me in a few hours, so call off that old-lady-Akane-complex and stop complaining. Man don't like woman that complain too much, you know."

It's not like the one I want will like me if I stop complaining.

Akane walked away from the youngest of her older sisters and locked herself in her bedroom.

Damn, Nabiki. I don't want this dress.

"Akane." The voice came along with a knock on her door.

Ranma…

"Can I come in?" He asked.

Akane sighed.

"Sure."

He was dressed like he always was: blue pants and chinese red shirt; still, for Akane, he was very handsome.

"Look, Akane, I know this engagement thing was our father's doing but…"

Akane felt her heart break into a million of pieces. The day had come.

"It's okay, Ranma, I already told you: you are not tied to me in any ways. You can do whatever you want…"

She kept talking and giving excuses, but all Ranma could notice was how pretty she looked on that dress. He had never seen her so beautiful before.

"Akane, shut up and listen to me, please."

"But, Ranma…"

"I didn't come here to tell you I want to end what our fathers started." He stopped for a minute feeling quite insecure. What if what she said to Kasumi wasn't true?

"So, why you came?" Akane asked.

Ranma looked at her and convinced himself it didn't matter what she had said to Kasumi. The only thing that mattered was what he wanted to do. And this was what he wanted. He knelt in front of her and reached for something in his pocket.

Akane blushed.

What are you doing, Ranma?

"Tendo Akane," he started, opening the little box he took of his pocket. "would you like to, one day, be my wife?"

Akane fell to her knees, right in front of him and hugged him, trying to hide her tears.

"What about Shampoo and Ukyo?"

"I don't love any of them." He answered putting his arms on her back and pushing her towards him.

"Ranma…"

He made her stare at him.

"Answer me Akane. Do you or do you not want to marry me one day?"

Her silence was like a rock in his stomach.

She will refuse me.

"I… I do."

The words took a little while to reach his brain, but when they did he smiled, put the ring on her finger and kissed her passionately.

She was glad to correspond to his kiss. He was hers now, and she was his. There was no need for her to feel weak again.