A/N: I really wanted to reply to all your reviews, because I had answers to a lot of them, but right now, I am heading for the pool,b efore the public swim closes. So I’ll be posting my replies later, if you’d like to check back later.

Disclaimer: Ranma and Co. of course don’t belong to me.

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Epilogue

Sounds curled in Akane’s ears like wisps of smoke, but she couldn’t understand them. Slowly, slowly, the sounds became clearer, though the world remained dark.

“I think I always hated him,” the voice was saying. “You do make me see things differently, Akane.”

She opened her eyes. It was too bright, and she squinted. Eventually, she got used to the light, and looked around. She lay on a small bed. Next to her, Ranma lay in another bed, half buried in blankets. He was looking up at the ceiling, talking out loud.

“Ranma?” she queried.

He jerked, and turned to look at her with wide eyes. “Akane? Akane, you’re awake! They said you wouldn’t wake up till tomorrow!” His face looked pale and drawn, she thought, as though something had used him terribly. Used him and discarded him.

“What happened?” she asked. “How long have I been asleep?”

“I promised I’d call for someone the moment you woke up,” Ranma said, his grey eyes worried. “They’ve been keeping watch over you, but…Well, we’re in the nursery’s infirmary. It was the closest place they could move us after you…after you collapsed.”

Akane suddenly remembered. “Kulloden,” she whispered. “Is he…?”

“Yes, he’s dead,” Ranma replied, sitting up against a mound of white pillows, his neck turned uncomfortably in her direction.

Akane didn’t know what to say. She looked down at the blankets that covered her, fighting not to cry.

“Akane, I’m…really sorry, for everything I put you through,” Ranma said in a rush. He looked haunted and his voice was quiet.“I just wanted to let you know that before….”

“Akane! You’re awake!” The Queen, a nurse behind her, came rushing in, delight on her face. “Oh, Soun and I have been so worried! How are you feeling, my dear?”

Akane lay quietly as the Queen and the nurse fussed over her. Ranma watched her worriedly from his bed, but eventually he tired, and fell asleep. Akane found herself relaxing when she was no longer under his scrutiny.

“Ranma’s body was exhausted from fighting Kulloden’s magic, and being possessed by it,” the Queen confided in Akane. “Happosai says that Kulloden’s geas had been on him so long that its disappearance sapped his life energy greatly. The poor boy. He’s been recovering just like you.”

Later, Kasumi and Nabiki were brought in to see Akane. They took one look at the sleeping Ranma and talked in whispers to Akane.

“The Queen told us the truth,” Kasumi said, teary-eyed. “Oh, we’re so glad that people believe in our parents’ innocence now.”

“We had no idea that they were just forgotten, you see,” Nabiki said bitterly. “Who knew spells could work like that?”

“I’m sorry, Akane, I feel as though we failed you,” Kasumi said, seizing Akane’s hand in her own. She smiled down at her youngest sister.

“I think it would have been better if you had never known,” Nabiki interrupted. “After all, you were the princess. Anything else would be…less.”

“You are mistaken,” Akane said firmly. “I certainly don’t think you are less. If anything, I do mourn the fact that I never met our mother.” But I feel like I still have one, she added silently.

“How is Ayako?” she asked brightly, before they all dissolved in tears.

Her sisters smiled at that, and began to describe Ayako’s latest antics. Akane wasn’t quite ready to hear more about her birth parents, but she found it easy to talk to Kasumi and even Nabiki.

Later, when she was recovered and nearly whole, and after Ranma had recovered enough to be moved into a richly furnished room of his own, the Queen called her in to talk to her. She was dressed in black, as was Akane. The kingdom was in mourning for Prince Kunou.

“You’re no longer the princess, Akane, but we’ve restored your parents’ rightful lands to you and your sisters,” the Queen said. “You are the Honourable Lady Akane now. You have your own lands.”

Ranma and Akane avoided one another. They were polite when they met, but otherwise didn’t speak. Then finally, Akane began making plans to leave. She couldn’t stay at the palace forever.

She was in her room, supervising the packing, when Ranma appeared.

“A…Akane,” Ranma cleared his throat awkwardly. Damn it! He was the prince of the kingdom, wasn’t he? He could act it if he had to.

She looked at him over her shoulder. As the sole heir to the kingdom, he was richly dressed in black and silver. He looked very handsome. Akane couldn’t help wishing him out of her sight.

“I’m sorry…about all this,” he gestured around him. He truly was, he realized. He’d caused her a lot of pain, and for what? Greed. Misguided vengeance. And his foolish actions in following Kulloden.

And now, Akane was bereft of the home and family she had known all her life. Her brother was dead. Not that that was much of a loss, by all accounts. But still…

He tried again. “Look, you don’t have to leave. This is your home.”

Akane shook her head. “No, it’s not. It used to be. But…I have a different family. Kasumi and Nabiki met with the Queen. I was there. They’ve…invited me to live with them.”

“In the cottage?” Ranma asked, thinking of the cramped space.

Akane smiled. “Kasumi’s husband is a sailor. He will be home soon on leave. The Queen plans to give him a promotion, and she also insists on rebuilding the cottage, to make it...bigger.” Akane smiled faintly, looking into the distance.

“It’s all right,” she said, finally. “I can’t say that some part of me doesn’t hate you right now for what you did, and who you turned out to be.” Ranma cringed. “But,” she looked up at him. “I was never a real princess. I was too sheltered, too weak. Until you came along. You forced me to think, to plan, to look beyond my own small world.”

She grinned. “Not that you did it out of any benevolent motive, but still…”

“I...would like to be friends,” Ranma said. He approached her. “I used you horribly, I know. But I can’t be completely sorry for that.”

Akane blushed. She looked flustered.

“I’ve reformed,” Ranma said. “Really.”

A smile played on Akane’s face. “Really? Can the leopard change his spots that fast?”

Ranma shrugged. He found that he didn’t want Akane to leave. He very much wanted to keep her around. That smile…

“Will you marry me?” he blurted.

Akane stared at him, shocked. “What?”

Having said it once, Ranma couldn’t quite get up the courage to repeat the insanity. But he waited for her answer anyway.

“I can’t marry you! Akane exclaimed. “You’re the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met!”

A dart of hurt speared Ranma somewhere around his stomach. Cracks of dull pain spread out from it slowly.

“Yeah, but…” He stopped. He couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I really don’t know you that well,” she said.

“It makes sense,” he forced the words past his hurt. “You wouldn’t have to leave. I mean, you’ll be the princess again, and queen someday, which you wouldn’t of been with Kunou around.”

She flinched; so did he. “I’m sorry,” he said miserably. “That’s not at all what I was gonna say.”

“You don’t have to marry me out of pity,” Akane said.

She was disappointed, and Ranma’s sharp ears caught it. Perhaps she wasn’t so against him as he thought.

“I’ll give you some time to think about it,” he said. “Maybe you’ll change your mind.”

Akane watched as he left.

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Three months later

“Akane! I’ve made you lunch,” Kasumi called from the kitchen. “Don’t forget it before you go.”

“All right, Kasumi.” Dressed in a light lilac gown and a straw summer hat, Akane almost skipped down the stairs in sheer joy of living.

The last three months had been very busy for all of them, what with the extra construction of floors and rooms to Kasumi and Nabiki’s cottage. Now the tiny place had grown to over three times its original size, and Akane had had to stop the Queen from making it even bigger. Three stories high, it was now quite big enough for Kasumi and her husband and child, Nabiki and Akane, with rooms left over for guests and storage.

Akane had discovered that having lands also meant having to manage them. Oh, not that she herself had to do all that much. The Queen had recommended an excellent steward for the purpose, but the man believed that Akane should know everything that went on in her lands, from sheep to farms to tenants.

And in fact, she was scheduled to meet him again for another ride to view some grain fields today.

Akane picked up her lunch basket from the kitchen table, and smiled at Nabiki on her way out. Nabiki quite enjoyed their new status, and was busy examining her latest collection of hats in the parlour.

Leaving through the kitchen entrance, Akane passed through the garden and swung open the garden gate, stepping out into the small lane behind their house.

“I thought you’d never leave,” growled a voice.

“Ranma!” Akane gasped as she spied the shadowy figure leaning up against the high, grey brick wall that fenced her house. Then she saw the figure next to him.

“Shampoo,” she said, with much less enthusiasm. She watched as Ranma spoke a few words softly to Shampoo. He took her hand and pulled her into the sunlight. The sight brought an abrupt sense of annoyance to Akane. Why on earth was he holding her hand?

Shampoo, now looking her normal self, smiled hesitantly at Akane. She’d spent some of the last three months getting to know Rouge, her birth mother. It had turned out the before Ranma and Shampoo, Rouge had been Kulloden’s apprentice.

“Who do you think took care of his things before you two came along?” Rouge had demanded with a cocked eye.

Ranma had shivered. “How old was he?”

Ranma continued to draw Shampoo forward. Did he have to hold her hand like that? Akane wondered.

“Akane, Shampoo and I have some news for you,” he said.

Abruptly, her heart chilled. Had Ranma for some reason chosen Shampoo over her? Had she kept him waiting too long? In the face of imminent loss, Akane suddenly acknowledged how much the pigtailed boy had actually come to mean to her. Was it too late?

“I’m leaving,” Shampoo declared.

“What?”

“I can’t stay here any longer,” Shampoo looked shamefaced. “I can’t face the King and Queen any longer, knowing what I did. I have to get away.”

“What about your mother?” Akane asked, secretly relieved. “Doesn’t she mind?”

Shampoo coloured. “No, she says that it’s good that she found me, but ever since Happosai cured her, she’s thinking of opening up her own business in Nerima. She thinks it’s quite all right for me to go out and see the world, since I never saw much of it living on the island.”

“Oh, of course,” Akane murmured.

Ranma had been silent during this exchange but now he stepped forward with a smile. “Mousse is going with her.”

“Mousse?” Akane asked.

“Yes,” Shampoo said, blushing slightly. “He wants to see the world as well.”

“Imagine that,” Akane said, hiding a smile behind her hand.

Later, after they had escorted Shampoo back to the palace gates, Ranma turned to look at Akane.

“Come on, Akane.”

“You know I’m meeting with my steward today,” she admonished him. “I’ll be late if I don’t leave soon.”

“I told him you’d be late,” Ranma said shortly. He looked up, and his eyes glinted.

Akane’s heart thumped. “W…why would you do that?” she asked. He looked down at her impatiently.

Ranma had shown up at the cottage almost every other day since she’d left the palace, on one pretext or another. Akane couldn’t say she wasn’t glad to see him, but her heart found it difficult to trust him. He was kept quite busy learning his new duties and responsibilities in a short period of time, something he found frustrating. More and more, Akane found herself drawing on her own knowledge to coach him through a royal ritual or teach him the reason for a boundary or custom.

It had brought them closer together, to Ranma’s delight and Akane’s discomfort.

He grabbed her hand now. “Come,” he said. He’d learned that autocratic tone very soon after becoming a prince, Akane thought with annoyance. Then again, perhaps it just came naturally to some people.

A groom riding a horse came trotting out of the palace gates and reining up in front of the pair, dismounted and bowed to them.

“Prince Ranma, Lady Akane,” he said in a respectful tone. Although Akane wasn’t the princess anymore, everyone in the palace treated her with far greater respect than they ever had. They knew she had been responsible for saving them.

“Thanks.” Ranma caught the reins of the horse and thanked the groom. He mounted swiftly, and before Akane could see what he was about, reached down and scooped her up into his arms.

Akane gasped, caught by surprise. “Ranma!”

The guards and groom grinned approvingly.

Ranma nudged the horse away from the gate, and let it trot down the busy fairway that led up to the palace. He’d seated Akane in front of him, and she twisted around to try and glare at him.

“What on earth are you doing?” she demanded.

“Shh, you’ll see,” he said, grinning. They rode out of the city centre, and took one of the byways deep into the woods. Akane started to get worried. Had her stewart really been contacted? What was Ranma getting upto? He was being very highhanded about everything.

Eventually, they rode into a glade, wild and flowering, sheltered from the forest path by broad tree trunks. Here, Ranma let Akane down and dismounted himself.

Akane swung about, her skirt flaring. “All right, now what is all this about?” she demanded, hands on her hips.

Ranma walked closer. “It’s been three months, Akane. Today, one way or another, you’re going to answer me. And it better be the right answer. Are you going to marry me or not?” He flung his head to get a lock of hair out of his eyes, looking very much like an impatient young stallion himself.

“I…uh…” Akane stumbled, remembering the moment behind her walled garden when she had thought Ranma was going away with Shampoo. She stared up into his glorious eyes. In this light, they were more blue than grey.

“Cat got your tongue?” he mocked. “You were very vocal in the forest. Back in the city, you’ve become the prim and proper lady I first met.”

“You mean the one you half drowned in the ocean?” Akane asked pointedly.

Ranma frowned. “You do hold a grudge, don’t you?” He sighed. “Last chance. What’s your answer?”

Akane refused to be baited. “Look, there’s no reason for…”

Ranma’s smile took on a gleeful edge. “Time’s up. I guess we do this the easy way.”

“The EASY w..?” Akane could get no more words out, because Ranma yanked her into his arms, and proceeded to kiss her very thoroughly. For a few seconds, Akane stiffened, afraid he was going to be rough again. But her body remembered his lips, and his fingers.

Ohhhh….

Her body began to melt against his, like butter against a hot knife. Ranma smiled against Akane’s lips. Yes, he should have tried this long ago. Then he wouldn’t have had to wait so long. His desire for her had only grown over the last three months. And it seemed the reverse was true as well. He smiled against Akane’s lips, never ceasing his kisses.

He slipped his hands around her ribcage, his thumbs rubbing softly against the material of her dress. He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck, eliciting a moan from Akane. She rested her head against his shoulder, and sighed with pleasure as Ranma laid a soft trail of kisses across the soft skin of her shoulder. He hit a particularly vulnerable spot, and she shivered.

“Will you marry me?” Ranma murmured.

“Hm?” Akane asked, dazed.

“I love you,” he whispered against her hair. “Please marry me.”

“What?” Startled, Akane raised her head, but Ranma’s gaze avoided hers. “What did you say?”

“I said-marry me,” he replied, praying she wouldn’t persist.

“Before that,” she insisted.

His azure eyes swung to meet hers. “I love you,” he said shortly. He released her, and turned away. Akane shivered again, from the cold this time.

“Is that bad?” she asked. New tenderness for Ranma was welling up in her, from a place in her heart that she hadn’t really examined before. A place filled with something she was too scared to describe.

“Yes. No. I mean, it used to be. It was not something that lived on the island,” Ranma said.

“Do you mean it?” she asked.

“Of course I mean it,” he cried harshly. “And so, you are going to be mine, by hook or by crook, even if I have to bynde you to me again so you never move a step away from me…”

Akane took a step closer. “You don’t have to do that,” she said softly. “I’m here. I’ll marry you.”

“Because you feel sorry for me?” he demanded.

“No,” she replied. “Because, I love you too.”

His eyes widened. He abruptly looked like a young boy offered something precious. “Really?” he asked. “How do you know?”

Now that Akane had discovered the secret place in her heart, she could look into it, and all she found there was love.

She stepped into Ranma’s arms, and kissed him with all the passion in her young heart. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He laughed, and kissed her back. “I believe you,” he said. “I wanted your kingdom, but all along, you were the real prize.”

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A/N: Ooh, what an ending. Corny, maybe, but I just couldn’t help it. ;) I will probably re-write this a bit here and there for a smoother transition in places.

Do review!