A/N: I'm back with the sequel to Ranma's Baby! I hope you guys will enjoy this story as much as you did the first one, or even more so! I've been thinking about this story for a long time now and I'm really excited to be starting it! Enjoy!
PS. If you didn't read Ranma's Baby then I suggest you do, or this might be a little confusing.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN RANMA½!
Waiting wasn't exactly something I did well with. This was one of the reasons I hated cooking, despite doing it so often for my family. It required you to wait for the water to boil, bread to toast, rice to cook, etc. I also hated lines. Waiting in line at the market was a pain, especially when you have other errands to run.
Unfortunately, I was enduring the worst type of waiting. The kind where you sit there in excruciating anticipation, having no idea what would be happening next.
Ding!
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the timer pulling me out of my anxious thoughts. It had only been three minutes that I was sitting there but it had seemed like forever, letting me slip into the deepest parts of my mind.
Getting up from my seat at the edge of the tub, I slowly approached the counter. Sitting there one the white tile was an equally white little stick that held all of the reasons for my anticipation. I picked it up in my shaking hand. There, on the tiny screen, was a little pink plus sign.
A large breath escaped my mouth. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath the whole time. I couldn't say I was shocked, obviously I had some inkling that this was happening because I took the test. It was just so soon.
We just had our daughter Ruka four months ago. In fact, exactly a week from tomorrow it will be four months since she was born. How was I supposed to tell Ranma that we were soon to be having another baby? Things had just recently been settling down with Ruka and we were finally getting the hang of things. Ranma started up the dojo again, having new students come in for training. It wasn't the best form of income, but it was better than nothing. Ranma had gotten his normal, strong body back. You couldn't even tell he had been sporting a large, pregnant belly a few months ago.
I looked down at my still-flat stomach. In a few months it wouldn't be so flat anymore. I would become rounder as the baby inside me grew. Touching it lightly, I sighed. Was I happy about this? I was most definitely nervous. How would I tell Ranma? Does he even want another baby? He dotes on Ruka and is such an amazing father to her, but how would he feel about another baby? Would he love it just as much as he loves Ruka, the daughter that he gave birth to? I was beginning to worry that he wouldn't and would neglect our new baby.
Quickly, I shook those thoughts out of my mind. There was no way he would neglect a baby we made together. He would love it and adore it just as much as he does Ruka. Just like I will.
I took the pregnancy test and threw it out in the trash can. It was early morning so I needed to start the day.
I crept out of the bathroom and padded my way down the hallway. I stopped in front of the nursery where Ruka had her crib. Opening the door I noticed that she was already awake and playing with her stuffed animal panda that her Grandfather Genma had given her when she was born.
"Good morning, sweetheart," I cooed, picking her up out of her crib and cuddling her to my chest. She gifted me with a smile and a happy cooing sound.
"Well, we're certainly happy this morning!" I said to her, cradling her in my arms. I walked down the steps and into the kitchen. Holding her in one arm, I prepared a bottle for her.
When it was ready I sat down in the sitting room and fed her. She sucked happily from the nipple of the bottle. The bottle was still half full when she turned her head away. I tried to put the nipple of the bottle back in her mouth but she wouldn't have it. Sighing dejectedly, I raised her up on my shoulder that I had thrown a towel over.
"Here, I'll do that," a sleepy voice said, entering the room.
Looking up, I saw Ranma standing there in his boxers and tank top, looking tired as ever. He rubbed his eye and sat down next to me, carefully taking our daughter our of my hands and putting her on his shoulder. He started to pat her back softly.
"Good morning," I smiled.
Ranma returned my smile. "Good morning." Then he looked down at the infant in his arms. He kissed Ruka's hair. "And good morning to you sweetheart."
I couldn't help but grin at that. Despite what anyone might have thought before, Ranma was an amazing father. I always expected him and Ruka to have this super special bond that a mother would normally have with her child because he was the one that gave birth to her, but he was really just the loving, doting father any little girl would be lucky to have.
Suddenly my mind wandered back to the little white stick I'd thrown into the trashcan this morning. Do I tell him now? No, that would be too sudden. I just found out myself. I need time to grasp the concept that soon we will be having another infant in the house.
Looking down, I saw my fingers lightly touching my stomach. It was still flat as always, but I knew that inside there was a little baby growing.
"Are you okay, Akane?"
I snapped out of my trance and looked up at Ranma who was staring at me with concern-filled eyes as he finished burping our daughter.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine."
His expression turned dubious. "Are you sure? You look kind of pale. Are you feeling alright?"
I put on my best reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Ranma. Don't worry so much. It's still early and I haven't completely woken up yet."
Ranma measured my response for a second before he smiled back. "Okay. Well I have a class today starting at eleven so I'll take care of Ruka for now. I want to spend some time with her," he cooed the last sentence towards our baby as she snuggled into her daddy's arms. Only four months old and she was already a daddy's girl. There were some times where I could never get her to stop crying because she just wanted to be held by her daddy. Fortunately, he was wrapped around her little finger and can not seem to spend enough time with her.
My smile widening, I stood up from my seat on the floor and started heading towards the kitchen. "I'm going to go make breakfast."
I figured I would start with the natto. I got all of the ingredients out, but once I started cooking everything my stomach began to churn. Dropping the chopsticks in my hand on the counter, I bolted out of the kitchen, past Ranma sitting with Ruka, and into the bathroom to puke my guts out.
There was a knock on the door. "Akane, honey, are you okay?"
Before I could reply, my stomach decided to empty itself again into the toilet- rather loudly I might add. The door clicked open and there stood Ranma with a concerned look and the baby curled up in his arms.
"Akane, what's wrong?" Ranma kneeled down next to me on the floor and rubbed my back with the hand that wasn't cradling Ruka.
"Nothing, I'm okay. I probably just ate something weird," I replied shakily. The world was starting to spin a little. I hadn't had much in my system and now throwing it all up took everything I had.
I took a few breaths, waiting to see if there was anything else my stomach would reject. After a few moments I decided that that was it and shakily started standing up. I could feel my body trembling slightly and I gripped the counter top with one hand and turned the faucet on with the other.
While I was rinsing my mouth, Ranma went to go put Ruka down in her play pen for a moment.
"Akane, what's this?"
Looking up, I saw that he had paused on his way out, staring down into the trashcan.
"What's what?"
My fiancée reached down and pulled out a little white stick.
Without even turning off the faucet, I quickly ran over and snatched the tiny contraption from his hand. "Nothing!"
His eyebrows knit together above his deep blue eyes that gazed down at me with even deeper worry mixed with some hurt.
I took a deep breath to calm down my frazzled nerves. "We'll talk about it later. I'm going to go lay down."
Without giving him a second glance I turned off the faucet and left, leaving him there holding Ruka with a dumbfounded expression.
I was still feeling nauseous but not enough to actually be throwing up. I'd been feeling under the weather for a week or so now but it had never been to this degree. At least now I knew what it was all from.
I tried laying down to take a nap, but there were too many thoughts running through my head.
When I took the pregnancy test this morning, it had only been a small idea. I had highly doubted I was pregnant. Ranma and I had started becoming…. Intimate about three months ago. After Ruka was born, everything started really falling into place. Ranma officially told his other fiancees that I was the one he wished to be with and that I was the mother of his daughter. We finally gave into our love for each other.
Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate this happening so soon. We were careful… well, most of the time. Some times things would just happen so fast that I don't even know if we used protection.
When Ranma was pregnant with Ruka, he had said things like "it will be your turn next," and other things to that effect. I knew that I wanted to have more children with Ranma but never imagined it happening so soon.
I thought back to what happened in the bathroom this morning. Did he see what the test read? How am I going to explain why I snatched the test away from him? I'm not even sure why I reacted that way myself. It was just spur of the moment and I wasn't ready to tell him, I guess. But will he understand that or get angry at me for trying to keep it a secret? Worst of all, how will he feel when I do tell him about the baby? We just had Ruka a few months ago. We're still adjusting as new parents and now we are expecting another child. Not to mention, we're still so young and not even married yet. I had hoped we would at least be married by the time we had our next baby. Now we would either get married very soon while I'm pregnant, or wait until this child is born.
The thought that I was carrying a baby inside of me was strange. Somehow the thought of Ranma carrying our baby was something I become used to. Don't get me wrong, I love that now it's my turn, but it's a hard concept to wrap my mind around.
I decided it was time to stop thinking so hard about everything and went to go check on Ruka. She was in her crib reaching up to the mobile that hung above her. The mobile had been a gift from Kasumi. It had a panda, a duck, a cat, a pig, and a little girl that looked just like Ruka on it.
Speaking of Kasumi, she recently had her baby. It was a healthy baby boy that they named Kotarou. He's the spitting image of his father, Tofu.
When Ruka saw me, she switched her attention from the mobile and reached for me to pick her up. I did as she wished and bounced her slightly. "Hey sweetheart. Why don't we go downstairs and make something to eat for Daddy and his students?"
My daughter replied with giving me a huge smile and a happy little cry along the lines of "aya!". I laughed with her and traveled down into the kitchen.
I laid her down on her belly in her play pen while I began preparing the food. I decided I would make some simple onigiri. They were easy to make and I knew I could at least handle plain rice and seaweed.
Once all of the onigiri were made I put them on a large platter, picked it up with one arm and held Ruka in the other, and made my way to the dojo.
In there, Ranma had a class going on.
Ranma was standing in front of the room doing the workout while the students stood in a block behind him and following his moves. I watched my fiancée in his beautiful fighting form. His body looked great. Even if you knew it was possible, you would never guess he had just given birth to our daughter less than four months ago.
Once they were finished I walked to the front of the room up to Ranma with the plate of onigiri in one hand and Ruka in the other.
"Akane!" Ranma greeted when he turned around to see me. Seeing that my hands were full, he took Ruka into his own arms and kissed her forehead.
"I brought some snacks for everyone," I said, offering up the plate.
The students all rushed up to me, thanking me as they took a rice ball from the plate. One of the few female students- I recognized her as Kou- stood in front of Ranma and played with Ruka, making the baby smile and reach her hands up in the air.
Kou smiled. "She's so adorable," she looked over at me. "And you look great! I would never have been able to tell you had just had her four months ago!"
That's probably because I wasn't the one who gave birth to her, I thought to myself. Ranma smiled at me. "She regained her figure in no time," he said, reaching his arm around my waist.
Kou smiled and played with Ruka's hands. "Well you two sure know how to make a beautiful baby. When's the next one coming?" she joked.
The conversation was going to a place I didn't want to think about right now. I fidgeted in Ranma's arm nervously.
Ranma laughed. "Oh not for a long while. Ruka is a handful right now as it is. I don't know if we could handle another baby anytime soon."
Suddenly I felt tears well up in my eyes. "E-excuse me," I stammered helplessly before running out of the dojo, the tears falling down my cheeks.
I heard Ranma calling my name in concern but I didn't bother to turn back around. I locked myself in our bedroom, crying on the bed I shared with him. It was already done, I didn't need to tell him. Now I know that he doesn't want another baby. It would just be a burden to him. He loves Ruka to no end, but how could he possibly love the baby I carried now? Would he love this child as much as our daughter?