Those Who Remain
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ (Sadly) Forgive me if I did any of the Japanese stuff wrong because I really am bad at the sans, chans and kuns! But I tried my best to make this the best I could so please, Read & Review!
Chapter 1. Out In The Rain
"Ukyou?"
At the centre of Nermia'sbeautiful park, on her knees in the soaking wet rain pouring apon her, a beautiful long brown haired teenager tilted her head slightly to a side numbly as she heard the distant call of her name.
"Ukyou?"
Ukyou Kuonji was drenched to the bone and shivered every second she stayed out in the never-ending rain. The concerned person was now running towards her, their heavy footsteps splashing the ground beneath her. To her, everything was spinning in utter darkness and the only thing she could hear was the steady and rapidly approaching footsteps of her saviour.
Would he be in time?
Her heart was as cold and unstable as her legs were when they collapsed on her while she was running. Her bitter tears had turned as cold as the rain as she knelt there feeling hopeless and stunned. So much had happened in the short few minutes that seemed like hopelessly never-ending hours. The events played again and again in her mind, never stopping once and never without the perfect sound and colour like a movie. The incident that changed her life in moments replayed, getting louder every time. To weak to jam her eyes shut and block out the mental torture Ukyou helplessly groped the ground around her weakly for her fallen spatula. Her wandering hand came upon wet fabric wrapped tightly around a cold steel handle before picking it up unconsciously. She held the gigantic spatula to her chest and hesitantly closed her eyes. The pounding approached faster, and faster, bigger splashes as the rain competed to make more noise. Ukyou shivered uncontrollably, every muscle shaking with cold. Her heavy eyelids fluttered weakly, and with her last ounce of energy she rested her sore eyes and relaxed her tense body; letting the warmth she had tried so hard to conceal of her shivering limbs go.
Slowly, one by one she realised her missing senses……her inability to see properly…the missing sounds of the rain and normal park sounds…her slightly numb fingertips which were practically icicles…and her irregular and tense breathing, a struggle to fill her lungs with sharp cold air. Letting everything go black, the last sound to be heard was the pounding and frantic splashing of her rescuer. Suddenly, just as she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, she heard a wooden object falling onto the ground with a splash like an umbrella and was then pulled by the collar swiftly to a direction unknown to her. Being unprepared for movement, Ukyou's mind sprang out of unconsciousness and after a while shelifted her heavy puffy eyelids to face her rescuer. She let out a small weak gasp of confusion as she gazed up at the grey and heavy sky as it continued to pour rain down upon her pale face. Where was her rescuer? Then, as her senses started working again she caught a soft tired groan of a small animal.
"Bwee….bwee…"
Ukyou blinked as the realisation dawned on her. Trying her best to glance at her saviour, she found she couldn't and instead closed her weary eyes again, trusting that she would be in good hands. Just before she let peaceful slumber take over her body, she whispered out some final words to the little animal pulling her to shelter and safety.
"T-Thank y-you………R-Ryoug-ga……"
Just as Ukyou shut her eyes and surrendered to sleep, P-chan paused to look at his peacefully resting pale friend. He still didn't understand why she would be out in such pouring rain and not in her restaurant cooking lovely okonomiyakis for everyone. Why would a happy chef and a cheerful friend like Ukyou Kuonji be out in the park by herself and in such a condition? Grabbing her soaking wet collar again, he pulled her around the corner of bushes and towards the small camping tent that always accompanied him. Leaving Ukyou outside for a second to jump up and pull down the tent zip with his teeth,Ryouga dragged her sleeping body into the quiet roomy tent, making sure she didn't hit any sticks or nuts on the way. When he had checked that she was safely in the warm and cosy tent he zipped up the doorwayand covered her body with several thick towels to dry her off, before tiredlyboiling hot water with his gas powered cooker and pouring it on himself,feeling the transformation happening as he quietly watched Ukyou's peaceful body at rest. After retrieving his clothes while blushing furiously, drying them and then putting them on, Ryouga Hibiki opened his pack and took out his flaskof cold vegetable soup and warmed it up on the cookerbefore pouring it into a soup bowl. He didn't know when she'd wake but there was lots more soup left in his container to warm up. After finishing his helping of soup with the spoon in his bag, Ryouga quietly took a bunch of folded paper fromthe front pocket of his bag. They were slightly wet with green ink showing from the back of the written text. Ryouga pulled his lamp closer to him so he could read the worn out letters he had read so many times before that day as the rain continued to storm down on the small but strong tent.
"Oh……Akane-san…" He muttered to himself sadly, reading the familiar letters. He had written it a long time ago, putting every single feeling into the letters to the love of his life.At the end he came upon an even more worn out letter than the rest, written in faded blue ink. He had received this from the passing postman as he travelled in Nermia shortly after he had sent the one letter to Akane. At this a soft tear came running down the lost boy's face as he opened up the letter from Akane, feeling the clutching sadness come again as he read the first line of the heartbreaking letter.
To Ryouga-kun,
I'm very flattered that you've showed so much feeling and affection for me in your letters and presents. But, I'm very sorry to say that Ranma and I have already agreed to marry willingly because we have fallen in love with each other. I know this must be heartbreaking for you but, I cannot put this any other way. Maybe if you told me earlier, things would have turned out differently. I'm so sorry Ryouga, and I really hope we can still be good friends between Ranma, you and me. Again, I'm sorry.
Tendo Akane
"R…R-Ryoug-ga…k-kun-n……?"
Ryouga jerked his eyes away from the depressing letter to look at a just woken-up Ukyou, blinking softly as the lamplight temporarily blinding her. Quickly he pushed away his sadness and put the letters away in his bag before putting on a soft and concerned smile. Seeing that she was trying to see without the lamp in her way, he kindly moved it aside for her and
"U-Uh………w-what……am I-I…" Ukyou started softly, staring at a confused Ryouga as she spat out the shivering words. Suddenly he realized the situation and immediately leaned backwards away from Ukyou, a desperate smileon his furiously red faceas he shook his head violently.
"N-Nothing h-happened! Really! I-I didn't t-touch you a-at all! Only to get you here, b-but n-noth…" He suddenly stopped, realizing that she was smiling at his improper panic attack. He lowered his hands, relaxing his frantic facial expression to a soft smile.
"So, are you okay?" He asked kindly, a worried face watching Ukyou blink sleepily continuously. He poured his prepared vegetable soup into a clean bowl and fetched a spoon from his backpack. Stirring it gently so it created small ripples in the calm liquid he placed it down before Ukyou's resting head, straight in front of her vision. She weakly, looking up at Ryouga and mentally sending a message of thanks. He smiled and helped her eat it slowly, making sure she was comfortable. When he finished she smiled contently, leaning back down onto the futon comfortably as the hot soup ran down her throat, relaxing muscles on its way.
Then as the soup's side effects disappeared, Ukyou started shivering uncontrollably again. Ryouga noted this and sighed softly to himself. She needed dry clothes, and his certainly wouldn't fit her. He'd have to go to her restaurant and find clothes, even though he knew he had no idea where that was.
"Wait here okay? I'm going to go get your clothes from your restaurant." He offered kindly and picked up his umbrella, starting to get up but was stopped by a shivering cold hand on his that was Ukyou's, her face grim. Ryouga stared at her confused. Slowly, Ukyou weakly pushed the blankets away from her body and started getting.
"No Ukyou! Don't you'll—" But she didn't listen to him and stood very shakily and fragile. Bit her lip, which was icy cold and took deep breaths. Slowly and with a raspy voice, she spoke.
"I……don't-t think s-so. Y-You'd…p-prob-bably…get l-lost-t. It's……ok-kay, I'll g-go……hom-me…n-now-w……Th-hank-k you-u…so…m-much-h for-r…your hosp-pitality-y……hon-ney, g-goodn-night-t…" and with that she quickly unzipped the tent with shaking fingers and without waiting for an answer walked out into the soft mild remainders of the pouring rain, her limbs shivering and wobbling. Gasping at the sudden drop of temperature but determined, Ukyou took small hurried steps to her spatula and picked it up slowly before continuing, unstable.
"Wait Ukyou!" Ryouga called out to her, surprised that she had gotten so far for such a weak girl. He jogged up to her side again with the umbrella safety protecting him from the rain and got a hold of her cold hand and pulled her to a halt. The rain then choose this time to start pouring heavily on them again and quickly Ryouga covered his soaking friend with his red umbrella. He looked into Ukyou's eyes and realized for the first time from when he saw her that day that she had puffy eyes. Red, sore, weary puffy eyes, a very red and sore nose, icy cold fingers and arms, blue purplish lips and shivering limbs. Ukyou looked up at Ryouga just before her wobbly legs collapsed on her again, shivering uncontrollably. Ryouga fortunately picked her up in a bridal style just before she fell, still holding the umbrella awkwardly with his hand, covering most of their bodies. With a groan of slight weariness, he started running furiously towards the park exit. (At least he knew where that was!) Ukyou stared at him dizzily and confused.
"I'm taking you to Dr. Tofu's immediately!" He called hurriedly, speeding across the pavements and grass of the wet park.
Finding the exit, he jumped up onto the iron gates and ran along them before finding a roof and jumping up on that instead, travelling fast. Ukyou closed her weary eyes and rubbed her hands and arms together to gather any warmth left in her. She knew she was in danger of maybe dying since she stayed out in the rain for so long so she tried her best to keep warm as Ryouga travelled on roofs, scanning for Dr. Tofu's clinic. Soon, he came apon it and slowly jumped down to the doorstep and carefully let Ukyou down. She had her eyes closed while she slowly rubbed her freezing body parts vigorously. He kept a hand on her shivering shoulder to steady her as he helped her enter the light blue door to the doctor's house.
Inside, he helped her take off her shoes as he did before picking her up again and putting her on an open futon in the room. Ukyou groaned, shivering uncontrollably as Ryouga tried to find some thick warm quilts for her as the sound of a wooden door closed from the back of the room. Standing there was a tall brown haired man with rounded spectacles who had entered the room, a confused look on his face as he saw what was happening.
"Why, Ryouga I didn't know you'd come! What's going on? Ukyou looks freezing. Come on, I'll show you to a proper warm bed for her." Kind Dr. Tofu offered without waiting for any objection. He opened the door for his new patients and led them to a different room with a white bed with thick quilts. Ryouga carefully transported a tired Ukyou to the bed and helped her get in. Dr. Tofu looked at the girl worriedly. He touched her skin for a second and quickly withdrew his hand, a shocked facial expression on his face.
"She's extremely cold. Ryouga can you turn on that heater there to full blast please? I'm going to get a few hot water bottles. Help her warm up with anything you can." Dr. Tofu instructed hurriedly before running out of the room as fast he his legs could carry him. Ryouga advanced to the old-fashioned heater and turned it up. Slowly the room started circulating with comforting warm air. Ukyou sighed softly, feeling her body warm slightly under the covers as her face warmed with the heater air blowing on her. Ryouga smiled worriedly and sat himself next to her on the bed.
"Are you okay? What happened Ukyou?" He asked concerned. Ukyou's face fell and she looked away sadly, feeling the horrid memories come back to her one by one. She jammed her eyes closed, new warm tears trickling down her pale beautiful face as she pushed them back into her mind. Ryouga could see she was in pain and with this he remembered the love letters he wrote and the letter he received back from the sweetest girl in Nermia. His eyes grew grim too and he let a lonely tear fall down his face. For a short but meaning minute, Ryouga and Ukyou just thought about their overwhelming sadness and the events that had led to it.
Soon, Dr. Tofu came running into the room with a satisfied look on his face, breaking the moment. In his hands he held multiple steaming hot water bottles and carefully placed them all around Ukyou. Ukyou smiled weakly but happier than she was just then and let sleep conquer her mind again.
"Wonderful heater this is. Still working, I got it installed when this clinic was built. Everything seems in order now, but I'm afraid Ukyou will have to stay with me for a week or so. Just looking at her now it seems like she spent a little too much time in the rain that she's very close to getting hypothermia. She'll warm up to her natural body temperature soon but I still need to make sure that she hasn't been diagnosed with the disease." Dr. Tofu explained seriously, lowering his voice so he wouldn't wake her up. Ryouga listened, worried that his friend was going to be in danger.
"Will she…die?" Ryouga asked very worried after he heard Dr. Tofu's explanation. He knew little about hypothermia but he knew it was best to avoid it. Dr. Tofu reassuringly smiled, patting the paranoid teenager on the back.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. Look, her lips aren't as blue now. She's warming up fast. And if she's really got the disease then I've got the RES-Q-AIR (I looked it up; it's a machine that helps people with hypothermia get better or something. Don't kill me if I'm wrong!) ready for her." Dr. Tofu smiled one of his happy cheerful smiles and started to exit the room but stopped right outside the door.
"By the way, do you know why she was out in the rain?" Ryouga looked up from staring at Ukyou's smiling face to the doctor seriously.
"I don't know…she didn't tell me…I was camping in the park and then I heard her voice yelling something. Then, I went out to see and I found her there; kneeing on the ground in the pouring rain." He answered sadly, thinking through the chain of events as he told them. Dr. Tofu nodded gravely and sighed, thinking about what he thought she was doing out in the rain.
"Well, we'll just have to ask her when she recovers. Come on Ryouga; let's get you some hot tea. You've got some shivers too." Dr. Tofu kindly offered, opening the door for his friend to follow. The two men walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, leaving Ukyou to sleep peacefully.
Ukyou's eyes fluttered open slightly and was greeted by direct bright sunlight. She jammed them closed again, feeling a little dizzy from the sun before opening them properly. She sat in a plain white room in a cosy warm bed of multiple lukewarm hot water bottles around her body. The window just next to her bed which had just blinded her was open and she could easily hear and see birds singing melodies in the light atmosphere as they perched on naked branches. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms to full length, feeling muscles waking up from their peaceful sleep. Turning to her side, she saw a wooden table with a glass of hot tea on it. She reached out and took the cup, drinking its contents gratefully. After finishing the drink she placed it down onto the table and leaned back in her bed relaxed. Glancing to her side again, she found her giant spatula leaning against the wall, sparkling in the sunlight. She had strength but felt lazy to get out of bed since she felt so warm. Smiling for the first time since the whole incident, she felt truthfully happy. But the events soon came racing back into her mind, crushing her brief happiness. Sighing, she pushed the thoughts away and started considering how to overcome her grief.
At that moment, Ryouga entered the room with a tray of a bowl of rice, fish and vegetables for the patient's breakfast. He stopped sharply when he saw a smiling Ukyou awake and gladly put the tray onto the wooden table next to the bed.
"Here's your breakfast Ukyou. Do you feel okay now?" he asked kindly, staring at her smiling lips which had turned back to their natural pink colour. Other things had turned to normal again, her skin colour and her nose wasn't red anymore.
"I'm fine Ryouga. Thank you for everything. How long have I slept?" She asked softly, sighing lightly to herself.
"You've stayed here two days now." He answered helpfully but had already calculated her predicted reactions. Ukyou's facial expressions change dramatically and she flung the covers off her bed hurriedly.
"Really! In that case, I should really be going. I have the restaurant to take care of; I have……lots to do." She hurriedly spoke slowing down at the end, her eyes drooping wearily. Ryouga moved away to let her out of bed; she looked at herself finding she still wore yesterday's clothes. The whole incident came rushing back again, refusing to be pushed away. Ukyou let out a gasp of irritation and sadness and exited the room in a huff, grabbing up her weapon on the way out the door. Ryouga ran after her, calling out her name again desperately. Then suddenly, Dr. Tofu walked out of a room right in front of Ukyou and she walked straight into him. After the loose papers had stopped flying around the room, Dr. Tofu and Ryouga helped Ukyou up and collected the fallen documents. Ukyou blushed with embarrassment and meddled with fingers nervously.
"I'm so sorry Dr. Tofu, but, but I've got to go!" She exclaimed urgently, looking at both men as he thought about the decision. Ryouga was very reluctant to let his friend go so soon; he also knew that something was wrong and that she needed someone to talk to. But Dr. Tofu seemed oblivious to this.
"Yes, I think you can. You seem well enough with no sign of being unhealthy! And so fast! Wonderful! I let you go now, so remember, please stay out of the rain for a while or you might be paying me another visit!" Dr. Tofu happily reminded her as she smiled cheerfully and thanked the doctor. Then, with a wave, she ran out the door dragging Ryouga with her, to his amazement. When they exited the clinic, she gave him a pleasant smile as she guided a confused Ryouga to her restaurant.
"I want to thank you for taking care of me, so please, just let me treat you to some yummy okonomiyakis, okay honey?" She explained softly, her slightly fake smile stiffening. She really wanted to thank Ryouga for what he had done and she wanted to get back to work with her business, but what she really wanted was someone to talk to about her recent problems. She felt that she would never be able to forgive Akane for stealing Ranma from her and that the three of them could never be friends again, especially after the big confession. No one would understand her problems unless she told them. She would be an angry cook, which is a Big-No-No for her self-esteem and for the customers. Maybe Ryouga would understand.
Ryouga nodded, smiling gladly towards her. He knew something was wrong, and maybe, just maybe she would tell him. And maybe, he could even tell her about his great depression. But apart from all that, he couldn't remember the last time he had the wonderful taste of mushroom and leek okonomiyaki in his mouth.