A day of calm and peace was something not quite as unusual for one Akane Tendo. An advantage of the chaos that surrounded Ranma Saotome was that it also tended to follow him whenever he went somewhere else. Of course that also meant trying to be close to the pigtailed martial artist required getting involved in the madness.

Sitting at her desk, she let out a sigh, combing her hand through her dark black, almost blue, hair and looked down at homework barely touched. One would think the quiet would help with her studies, but all she could do right now was let her mind wander through the events of the past week.

Sometimes, being close meant the madness would find her even if she was a country away. Such as a flock of bird-people kidnapping her to China and drowning her in a spring, all so this one woman could impersonate her completely. After that, there was having the moisture evaporated from her body and being turned into a tiny doll, although that one was mostly on her for interfering. Not that there was any way she wouldn’t have gotten involved. After all, she’s a martial artist too.

Even as an immobile doll, she was still able to see and hear everything that was going on. The angry prince that blocked access to the waters that would restore her to normal. The life that was slowly draining out of her. The fear in her fiancé’s eyes as he did everything possible to succeed against a seemingly unvanquishable foe. The desperation as he blasted the fountains of Jusendo, saving her while at the same time destroying yet another chance at a cure for himself. The words he spoke to her after thinking he was too late. 

Those words should have been enough. After all that happened, Ranma still wasn’t able to say it outright, but everything else said made it obvious. She should have accepted those words and left it alone. Then came the wedding and she just couldn’t. Akane was ready to go through with the whole thing and she hoped he was too. She wanted him to. She needed him to. She had to hear him say it and wouldn’t accept anything else. That was when she made a mistake.

If she just kept the information about the Nannichuan water to herself, then maybe Ranma wouldn’t have run straight into the chaos. Maybe they could have both stayed out of the way of the storm and come out the other side as husband and wife. Instead she hoped mentioning the cure would make him grateful enough to actually admit his true feelings. And once again, everything was ruined and Ranma was still cursed. 

The young martial artist let out a scoff at the thought. Yeah right, some curse. What’s wrong with being a girl anyway? It’s not like he turns in a panda, or a duck, or a cat. That last one would probably destroy him. No, instead her financé becomes a super cute redhead with a bust bigger than her own, a fact he’s sure not to let her forget along with all the things he’s so much better than her at. 

Despite all of his complaining, he sure had no problem taking advantage of his cursed form, whether it’s to charm free food from vendors or putting on some disguise to pick on Ryoga. With the way he constantly teased the poor boy, one would think they were actually brother and sister.

She didn’t even dare contemplate what else that pervert was doing with that body. She certainly heard the whispers from the boys at school about what they would do if they had the curse for even a day. It was disgusting! He wasn’t even a real girl! Not real...

Akane closed her eyes and tried to shake the thoughts from her head. She needed to get her mind away from Ranma. No matter what, everything seemed to connect to the cursed martial artist. That wasn’t always the case though. 

Chaos certainly followed the boy to town, but it wasn’t as though none existed before. For as long as she could remember, she had one primary dream: to inherit her family’s dojo and be the best martial artist in Nerima. Things started out well enough with her father training her along with her two older sisters. Then, tragedy came with the sudden passing of her mother and everything fell apart. Her father cancelled all classes and refused to train anyone, even his own family. The oldest daughter Kasumi was forced to become a housekeeper and family cook at the age of 9. Nabiki, once the most outgoing of the three, retreated into herself, claiming to do whatever necessary to keep the family afloat and avoid financial ruin, although Akane was unsure just how much of that was really needed. 

All this left Akane with no one to help her with training. She was stuck alone, isolated, having to figure everything out on her own. It was certainly a hard road and she felt more often than not that she was just tripping over her own feet. If there was one thing about Akane Tendo though, it was that she was far too stubborn to let that stop her. Eventually, determination and perseverance paid off and she went through middle school making quite the name for herself and drawing the attention of many. That was where the trouble truly started as one of the people that made notice of her skills was a first year student of Furinkan High School by the name of Tatewaki Kuno.

It would be the greatest of understatements to refer to the boy as delusional. Already a master kendoist, he fancied himself on the level of the grand samurai of old, even foregoing the regular school uniform for the traditional samurai hakama whenever he could get away with it. He spent most of his time spouting poetry while demonstrating no talent for such and proclaiming his love towards any “fair maiden” he showed fancy, refusing to or perhaps incapable of accepting any rejection of such affection.

Kuno was rapid in his pursuit of the third year middle school student. Akane, in her arrogance, decided the best way to rid herself of this pest was a formal martial arts duel. After all, what boy would be interested in a girl that could kick his ass? 

Akane did indeed defeat Kuno rather soundly, only to find out just how big of a mistake she made. Instead of being deterred by his defeat, the samurai wannabe was somehow able to reach even greater heights of motivation, doubling the number of romantic declarations towards his “fierce tigress”, most of which ended with a punt into the next district. At this point, Akane was wondering how things could get any worse. 

The answer came at the start of her first year at Furinkan High. She would have loved nothing more than to avoid being in the same school as that idiot. However, her sister Nabiki was also attending and the eldest, Kasumi, just graduated from there, so she was expected to follow along in their footsteps. 

Things fell apart during the opening ceremonies, which was immediately hijacked by Kuno. Being the star kendo player as well as, unbeknownst to Akane at the time, the son of the currently missing principal, he was given quite a bit of leeway from the staff and officials. Once he was done giving his declaration, Akane wished someone could have built up the nerve to just tackle him off the stage right away.

“My greetings to the illustrious student body. I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, The Shooting Star of Furinkan High, have only this to declare. Anyone who wishes to date Akane Tendo must first prove themselves by defeating her in combat. I shall accepting nothing less.”

As the kendoist walked off the stage among the loud murmuring of the crowd, Akane could only wonder how many challenge letters will show up in her locker. It turned out the answer was none as most of the students of Furinkan were unfamiliar with formal challenges and preferred the direct approach instead. 

The result was a new morning routine for the young martial artist: fighting off a horde of perverted boys determined to take her down. At first, it was only a few students who dared to attack, but day after day with each beatdown given, the numbers kept growing eventually resulting in every male athlete along with several non-athletes going after her. 

Akane was absolutely under no delusions about the situation. In no way was this about the privilege of asking her for a date. No, these boys firmly believed that the eventual winner would immediately get her as though she was a prize, probably expecting her to immediately jump into his arms and declare her undying love. Looking back on it now, she wondered if they were all descended from some long lost Amazon tribe.

After more than a month of these daily “challenges”, a couple of things became clear.

1. Akane became very good at crowd brawling
2. She’d never be able to enjoy a Jackie Chan movie ever again

All of this was really taking its toll on the poor girl. Worst of all was the fact that there was no one she felt she could really turn to. Sure, there was the family doctor she harbored a secret crush on, but she had no idea how to approach him. 

Her family was no help. Her father was still grieving over the loss of his wife, Kasumi was too busy taking care of the house, and Nabiki was busy herself taking bets on the fights, her only words of encouragement being “keep it up and we’ll have the mortgage to the house paid off by the end of the year”.

Despite all the fighting, she was still somewhat popular with the female students. However, even with all her supporters, as well as a couple of girls she tended to hang out with quite a bit, she didn’t really have anyone she would consider a best friend. Someone that she could really connect with and be close to.

About a month and a half into the school year, things changed once again. It all started with a postcard her father received from an old friend named Genma Saotome. Apparently he was coming from China along with his son Ranma. Akane was already in a bad mood upon being given this news. All the time spent dealing with the perverts at school and now she was going to have one invade her own home. Then came the news that caused her dreams to lay shattered on the floor. This boy, this interloper, was to marry one of them and inherit the dojo. Her dojo. The dojo she worked so hard to earn, being handed over to some complete stranger that not even her father had met.

Akane was still fuming when the invader finally made his presence known in a way no one expected: being carried over the shoulder of a giant panda of all things. Things were turned on their heads once again thanks to a tight hug by the Tendo patriarch followed by quick inspection from Nabiki revealing that the short, red-haired boy was in actuality a girl.

Everyone had a different reaction to the news. Her dad fainted and ended up catatonic on the floor, lamenting how his plans to destroy her dreams went up in smoke. Kasumi was being Kasumi, providing the exact amount of hospitality required for a guest. Nabiki just continued to poke at the poor girl’s breasts, as if needing continuous confirmation that the person who showed up at their door was indeed a girl.

As for Ranma herself, underneath the growing irritation showing on her face there was a look of loneliness and isolation. Akane recognized it immediately, as those sad eyes were the same ones she saw everyday in her own reflection. The Tendo heir knew exactly what needed to be done.

“Hi, my name is Akane. Would you like to be friends?”

The small smile and quick nod was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

Things kept getting better as she took her new friend to the dojo for a little sparring session. It became quickly clear that her new friend practiced kempo more than just a little as her new best friend effortlessly dodged and weaved at every strike she threw. Eventually, the impromptu fight ended with her fist through the dojo wall and a light poke to the back of her head. 

As Akane turned around, the smile on her new bff’s face became full-on joyous laughter that she was quick to join in on. The sadness and loneliness were now gone from her friend’s eyes and she hoped the same would be true for the eyes in the mirror.

The dark-haired girl left the dojo with, for the first time in so long, a sense of optimism. She finally had a friend she could truly confide in. 

A friend that also practiced martial arts. 

A friend she could have actual spars with. 

A friend that could help her with the madness that was her life. 

A friend she could team up with to battle the loneliness together.

A friend that didn’t actually exist. It all turned out to be a complete and utter lie. 

Just a little hot water was all it took to dissolve away the deception and reveal the ugly truth underneath. Revealed the boy, the pervert, just like all the other boys. Except it was much worse this time because this boy managed to achieve victory without having to land a single punch. Akane Tendo The Prize was finally handed over on a silver platter, by her very sisters no less, along with the dojo she worked so hard for. 

It wasn’t fair! This shouldn’t be happening! There was no way she was going to marry the pervert! No way she was going to -

“Ranma! Akane! Dinner is ready!”

Akane’s mind snapped back to the present. She looked down at the pile of broken lumber that was recently her desk and let out a long sigh. Once again her anger managed to get the best of her. Just a few minutes ago, she was thinking about how determined she was to marry the idiot. Now she was back to declaring it was never going to happen. She was stuck. Caught in a spiral. Her own version of the Hiryu Shoten Ha. Forever trapped. After everything that happened and everything she had gone through, nothing had changed. And she was tired.

As the girl of 17 who suddenly felt much, much older slowly got up and started to head downstairs, she could only think about just how tired she was.

Tired of the chaos.

Tired of not being able to move forward.

Tired of not knowing whether she wanted her fiancé to leave forever or to never leave her side.

Tired of feeling both totally isolated and completely suffocated.

Tired of missing a girl that was never really there.

Yes, at the end of the day, after everything that has happened, what she truly wanted was to just have her friend back.