"Lust": AKANE TENDO

When Akane Tendo locked her lips on the lustrous and bold Ukyou Kuonji before her own wedding, she knew that nothing was ever going to be the same again. However, Akane Tendo is used to her life being chaotic and melodramatic. Except that this time, the chaos is being caused by her and not her hapless Cyrano of a husband Ranma Saotome.

Akane Tendo is the third daughter of Soun and Natsume Tendo. When Akane was five, her mother died and left Soun to raise the three daughters Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane. Akane immediately took interest in taking over the dojo and practiced with her father until she became one of the strongest women in the Nerima district. Soun also didn't tell his children that he had engaged one of them to marry his best friend's son Ranma Saotome. The winner of this unfortunate mishap was Akane only because she was the closest to his age. Akane, on the other hand, had no interest in Ranma or men whatsoever and was busy mending a secret crush on one of her girl friends Satori when Ranma showed up.

From the beginning, Akane did not like Ranma physically and it seemed that Ranma reciprocated the responses when he called her kawaiikune, "uncute" in Japanese. Ranma came with his own bag of problems which came in the forms of two fiances Shampoo Chen from China and butch okonomiyaki girl Ukyou Kuonji. Akane was overwhelmed with her crush on Ukyou when she first met her as a guy. And even when she discovered that Ukyou was a girl, Akane was also drawn to Ukyou's ability to care for others and put others over herself. As the rivals turned to friends later on, Akane grew much more closer to Ukyou and tried to help Ukyou win Ryoga's heart while secretly wishing that Ukyou would court her. While feeling mixed feelings about Ranma, Akane became closer friends with Ukyou and wished that more would come out of the relationship.

When her father and Ranma's father died in a dojo accident, Akane felt trapped in her duty to marry Ranma. She felt guilty that Ranma would have nothing if she had left him. She chose to sacrifice her crush on Ukyou. But she wanted Ukyou to know badly that she liked her. On Akane's wedding day, she kissed Ukyou and confessed with tears that she actually liked her. Ukyou then returned the confession to Akane's shock. Akane was so ashamed of herself that she begged Ukyou not to attend her wedding but Ukyou did anyways. Ukyou left Tokyo as Akane had asked her.

Akane's marriage to Ranma was very superficial and she worked hard to make it work out between her and Ranma. She was not sexually attracted to Ranma and wanted to focus on leading the dojo as she had promised her father. She wanted to be the dutiful wife that her mother was unable to be and took good care of Ranma. However, she couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful okonomiyaki chef she abandoned for a loveless traditional Japanese marriage.

When Ukyou returned to Tokyo three years later as a successful business woman, Akane got back in contact with her. Ukyou was very interested in keeping in touch with Akane and they did so through e-mails and random visits to Tokyo. Akane liked Ukyou more and more as she spent time with her. As a newly out lesbian, Ukyou also taught Akane the wonders of girl-on-girl action while making Akane feel emotionally guilty for cheating on Ranma. They persued an illicit and secret affair for the two years of Akane's marriage to Ranma. However, each episode ended the same with Akane returning to her heterosexual lifestyle and Ukyou more frustrated than ever. As Ukyou makes one more visit to Tokyo, Akane is stuck with a very large dilemmna. Does she choose to follow her duties to her deceased father or does she choose to follow her heart?

Akane Tendo's model is Carmen Lee