Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or any of the Rumiko Takahashi's wonderful creations. What a shame!

Without a Trace – A Ranma ½ fan fiction

Summary:Seconds after the battle with Saffron ends, Ranma encounters a last, unexpected enemy who seals their fate with a final blast. When he regains consciousness he is shocked to learn that not only have things changed, but also that the love of his life is truly gone without a trace.

Prologue

The moment he laid eyes on her, he knew that something had gone terribly wrong. Her body was back to its normal size and appearance, but her eyes continued to be closed. Her naked body was limp in his arms, and not even the cool, wet feeling left in one's skin when the wind hits a body after being washed out with steaming water, seemed to stir her. He noticed his own pores reacted to the cold breeze hitting his body, yet her pores were as inanimate as the mountains encircling them. If he did not know any better, he would believe that Mount Phoenix was mourning with him. He heard a small cry and pain-filled whimpers coming from the hopeful spectators who could not believe the scene unfolding in front of them. Five minutes had passed between the final blow that killed Saffron and this very moment. Akane remained as motionless as a rock.

"Dammit, Akane! Wake up!"

The pigtailed boy shook Akane by her shoulders; carefully at first as if afraid to hurt her; then fiercely in obvious desperation. He took off his shirt and placed it on top of her body to provide some comfort and decorum to her almost frozen body. There was no reason for her body to have lost its warmth. They had been splashed with hot water, and he had been told that if he did as instructed, Akane would come back to him just as before. Neither activity had provided the expected results yet.

"Look at me, Akane," Ranma whispered into her ear as soft as he possibly could but in the awkward silence that surrounded them, his words found their way to the bystanders. "Look at me, I said! I'm touching your bare body. Wake up and tell me I'm a perv! Wake up and mallet me to Nerima!"

There was no response other than the sobs and sniffs of the people in front of the betrothed couple. "You, you…tomboy! You are as uncute as ever! Talk to me and prove me wrong! Yell at me! Anything, please!"

"Why are you doing this to me again? First when I thought you had vanished…and now…" He held her even closer to him as he heard footsteps approaching them. He did not bother to look up, as he knew that whoever was coming to comfort him was also going to take her away from him. He was not ready. He was not going to let her go just yet. There were still things that needed to be done, words that needed to be said. Ranma Saotome, the heir of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts, began crying over his fiancée's pale face.

"The least you can do is come back to me, Akane! I think I deserve it after everything I did for you!" He insisted, attempting to mask his sadness with irritation.

Nothing.

She was as stubborn as he was, it seemed. However, in this battle, he would have no choice but to accept his loss.

He tried to deal with his sadness the best way he could: masquerading it with pure anger. He shook her once more, this time more intensely than the last time. He dug his nails into her skin, not truly attempting to hurt her but releasing his frustration of being unable to do anything else. "Why isn't she awake yet?"

One last look at her still body was all it took to break his façade, finally. How long had he been kneeling there, cold body in cradled in his arms? How long did it require a person to be declared departed of this world? He had just delivered the deadly blow that ended the life of the most powerful and feared man in these regions. Yet, no amount of strength he could conjure had prevented her from vanishing –from leaving his side. He repeated the instructions he had been given, repeatedly, in his head. Everything had gone according to plan. This was not the result he had expected.

He closed his eyes tightly and felt the blood drain from his hands. His knuckles were turning white on his closed fists; as white as the skin of the girl he held so protectively in his arms. He held a sob but wasn't able to hold the guttural sound that came from him when he spoke again.

"Come back to me, Akane." His tone of voice finally gave in to show his current true emotion. He was devastated. His memory skipped back to the moment he had parted from Nerima to come to China. The words he had so inconsiderately spoken as he left without saying goodbye to her, burned into his mind: "What's the dif? I mean, she's gonna be here when I get back, right?"

Ranma held her closer. How could he have been so dense? All those times he took her for granted and now…

"I said come back to me, Akane!" He yelled in a raspy but slightly broken voice. "Come back to me so I can tell you that I lo-"

His last word was cut off by a whistling sound. He was so tired from the fight that he did not recognize it as the sound of warning to an approaching chi attack. He slowly turned his head to the direction where the sound had come from. In a split second, the whistling had stopped to give way to a much more recognizable sound: an explosion.

Ranma heard the voice of Mousse as he tried to warn him of the impending danger even though it was too late for anything to be done to avoid the blast. As Ranma felt the blast devour his back and continued on to feast on the rest of his body, he pleaded to be woken up from this nightmare where everything dear for him was gone, and Akane Tendo was no more.

A/N: It has been such a long time since I last posted a story here; and this story has been in the back burner for almost three years now. I only have a couple of chapters written, so the update may be slow, but consistent. Thank your reading, and review if you like! This is my first Ranma fic, and may be the only one :P