Hi.
The draft is going a little better but I still would like any comments.
Thanks to everyone who made comments and suggestions.

A Second Chance at Love
Chapter Six Pain

	Ryoga had finally arrived home from his business trip.  It was three days 
after Ryoga met Ukyou again.  He his plane had gotten delayed and that 
prevented him from coming home earlier.  He had also hired a private 
detective to find Ukyou.  His sense of direction was a little better than it 
had been but not much.  (It could not have gotten worse.)

	Ryoga and Akari were sitting in their home in Osaka.  It looked like a nice 
home and it had several souvenirs of Ryoga's past business trips.  Ryoga 
wished that he were on one of his trips at the moment.  He wanted to be 
anywhere else in the world.  As much as he knew this had to be done, it did 
not make it any easier.

	He turned to face his wife, a sweet caring woman.  She looked good but he 
could see circles around her eyes and suspected that she was not getting 
enough sleep.  She's probably been worrying about our marriage and she might 
even blame herself for all of our problems.

	"Akari, I know you're not happy.  I am not happy either."  He said it a bit 
too quickly to make sure that he said it without stopping and to make sure 
that she could not interrupt him	"Ryoga, I am happy. " Akari said.  She did 
not sound completely sincere and she also sounded a bit tired.

	"Akari, we have not been happy in years."  Ryoga paused for a moment.  The 
next sentence was not going to be easy to say.  "Akari, we should get 
divorced."

	The whole world seemed to stop for a moment.  The sudden silence in the 
room was shocking.   Akari looked hurt and sad.  "Is there someone else?"  
She asked.

	Ryoga thought about lying to her but she deserved better.  She deserved so 
much better than she had gotten from him. "Yes.  Even if there were not, we 
would still have to do this.   I know that we both have not been happy for 
years."

	Akari tried to deny it but she could not.  "I am sorry, Ryoga.  I haven't 
been a good wife."

	Ryoga had been afraid that she would blame herself.  "Akari, this is as 
much my fault as yours.  It is probably even more my fault than yours."

	For a moment there was more uncomfortable silence.  "Akari, I am so sorry 
for this."

	After a while longer Akari finally admitted that she had not been happy in 
years.  She agreed to the divorce.  They made plans to call lawyers the next 
day and start the processes.  He left the house and went to a hotel.

	  <Flashback Nerima>

	Ryoga was alone.  Ukyou had left town a month ago.  She had said something 
about going off to pursue a career as an actress.  Ryoga had wished her luck 
when she left.

	"I'll miss you, Ukyou.  You are a good friend."  He said.

	"I'll miss you too, Ryoga."  She said. More than you will ever know.   She 
looked like she was going to cry but she did not.

	Ryoga watched her walk to the train station and felt alone.  He had never 
had many friends, so losing one was not easy for him.  He wanted to go after 
her and ask her if she was sure that should leave. He knew that leaving must 
be hard for her, so he did not.  He did not want to make it harder for her.

	If he could have known how much it would have meant to her, he would have 
asked her to stay.  He thought she was leaving in part because she could not 
bear to see Ranma and Akane married.   He certainty couldn't bear it.   He 
did not go to their wedding.  I would only make a fool of myself if I went.

	He wished Akane the best but knowing that she never even really considered 
him hurt.  He felt like he had spent so long chasing a dream that he could 
not let go of it easily.  He was slowly learning to let it go.  Part of 
letting go of his dream with a life with Akane was avoiding her.  He was not 
ready to be around her just yet.    He did not mean to be rude but he had to 
do it.  Luckily his sense of direction gave him a great excuse to avoid her. 
  It was the first time that his miserable sense of direction had actually 
helped him.

	Ryoga did not expect to miss Ukyou as much as he did.  Passing by the 
closed Ucchan's was hard.  The building reminded her of all the time that he 
spent with her.   With Ranma and Akane married, he could have used her 
friendship.

	She had been the first woman that he called beautiful.  She was so 
beautiful, how could he not have noticed it earlier?

	All the time that they spent together flashed before Ryoga's eyes.  She was 
a good friend, perhaps his best friend.  He missed her so.  Everyone had 
thought that he and Ukyou were dating at times and their "date" at the movie 
had gone pretty well.  Ryoga decided that maybe he and Ukyou could be more 
than friends.  It was worth a thought or at least they could still be 
friends.

	Ryoga decided to go to find her but he did not know where she went.   Maybe 
Ranma knows.  He went to the Tendo dojo and it only took him a few hours to 
find the place. (Not bad even considering that he had been only four hundred 
yards away from it when he decided to go there.) He started to pound on the 
door and yell "RANMA GET OUT HERE NOW."  Ryoga knew this always worked.

	After a moment, Ranma appeared.  "Nice to see you again, Ryoga.  You missed 
our wedding,  Akane was disappointed."  Ranma said calmly.  Ranma ignored 
the cracks in the door that Ryoga had caused.

	"Where is Ukyou?" Ryoga demanded.

	"She left town, don't you remember you idiot?"  Ranma was having fun.  He 
hadn't insulted Ryoga in a month and he had missed it.

	Ryoga ignored the insult completely, which surprised Ranma.  "Do you know 
where she went?"

	"No."  Ranma said.

	Ryoga looked crushed.  "She didn't tell you?"

	"No, she did not tell anybody."

	"Thanks." Ryoga walked away.

	Ryoga tried to find Ukyou.  He went to Tokyo to look for her but after a 
month of wondering around the city, he only succeeded in getting lost and 
depressed (Or in his case even more lost and depressed than usual.)    He 
realized that he could spend years looking for her without finding her.  She 
could have even left the country for all he knew.  She could be in America 
and he couldn't imagine how he could afford a boat or plane ticket to 
America.

	Ryoga suddenly became afraid that maybe he would find her years later but 
she would have forgotten him.  In his mind he saw the older Ukyou happily 
married and having only a vague memory of him.   "Why were you looking for 
me for so long?" He heard her say. That depressed him.

	Ryoga decided not to look for Ukyou anymore.    For the next few weeks he 
was even more depressed and lonely than usual.    He could have asked Ranma 
and Akane to help but they were away on a trip.

	A few months later, he and Atari started dating.  She was so sweet and 
pretty, and she loved him.   She made him feel loved and he mistook that for 
being in love with her.  It was easy.

    Even later when Ryoga and Akari got married, Ukyou was mostly a memory, 
a pleasant memory but mostly a memory.   Ryoga had convinced himself that he 
loved Akari and he had such high hopes for their marriage.  They left Nerima 
and he became a businessman.

     It was not until a few years into the marriage that Ryoga realized that 
it was a mistake.  He realized that he really did not love Akari and he did 
not grow to love her.  He wanted to do something to make the situation 
better but he did not know what to do.

<End Flashback>
	Ryoga had not thought about his search for Ukyou in years.  He wished he 
had found her then.  He even wished that he begged her not to leave town.  
That was all in the past and the past couldn't be changed.  However, he 
would find her this time.  Nothing would prevent him from finding her.



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