Disclaimer: Though this is not my first fanfiction, this is the first time I started one in english. As you may have already understood, I am not a native english speaker. If you find any mistake, please, feel free to point it out.

It was already night when Ranma came back home. The wooden floor creaked soflty under the weight of the pigtailed martial artist when he sat on the porch where once his father and his wife's used to spend their days playing many years have passed, since he first fell in the pond? A little over fifteen, maybe. It was kinda hard taking track of time in those days.

The pond was now dry, and the garden was just a plot of burnt land.

His mother came and sat beside him.

"How is she, mother?"

Nodoka forced herself to smile at his son

"It's been a good day. She ate her meals quietly, and she called Ranko by her name."

"Speakin' of Ranko, where's the little imp? Playin' with the other brats, I guess."

"Oh yes – said his mother smiling, for real this time – She seems rather fond of the Hibiki child. She's like a big sister to him."

Ranma smiled. Who would have thought, back in the day? His daughter playin' big sis with Ryoga's own brat. She'd better not let him go of his hand, otherwise who knew when they would have seen the boy again.

When Ryoga first told everybody that Akari was pregnant, Ranma was shocked: he never thought that Ryoga's seed would have manage to find its way; in the end, he came to the conclusion that the spermatozoon who won the race was actually on his march from their wedding night, 5 years before the baby was coinceved. Thankfully, the baby managed to get out safely: Akari's genes must have kicked in.

"Poor kid – Nodoka continued – having lost his mother at such a young age."

"Akane is not lost, mother!" yelled Ranma, jumping on his feet

"I-I was referring to the Hibiki child, my son."

The man felt ashamed, and bowed to the woman, silently asking her to forgive his rudeness, something she had already done.

Ranma excused himself and moved to the little room he shared with his wife and kid. Before the day when hell broke loose, that was Akane's room. It was destroyed along with Nabiki's and Kasumi's, but the men of the house rebuilt everything that was destroyed.

It wasn't easy, though. Every now and then, a group of punks would show up and they were forced to deal with them in ways Ranma never thought it would have to do.

He laid next to his wife and called her name but, as usual, there was no response.

He was not prepared for this.

The next morning, Ranma found Ryoga by the well. It was surprising, since Ryoga had left his house to get some water only four days earlier. Of course, the distance between Ryoga's house and the well was a little above 300 yards.

"Ryoga, glad to see you; only four days since the last time we saw you! That must be a new record."

"Zip it, you moron. Drink first, chat later."

The fact that Ryoga choose to drink rather than insulting him was a testament to how thirsty the man was.

"You have to tell me, how do you even manage to get lost? We have a wall all around the perimeter. Can't you just turn back when you face the wall?"

Ryoga kept on drinking, spilling water on himself

"Man, even our curses can be cured, but there's no cure for stupidity."

A razor sharp bandana flought from Ryoga to Ranma's neck, forcing the pigtailed man to dodge by jumping upon Ryoga's, forcing his head in the bucket, smirking.

"Too bad you're not turning into P-chan anymore. I could have used a snack."

Ryoga was about to burst, burning with anger, but now his fighting spirit was gone while the smile melted off Ranma's face.

They completed their task in silence, and then moved back towards their homes.

"So... – said Ryoga – how is she doing?"

"As usual. It's...she's..."

Ranma wasn't able to speak further, and Ryoga did not have the strenght to ask. He looked at Ranma, wondering if he should share the information he recently obtained. But he could not stay silent any longer.

"I have heard something...it's about a man. They said he can make miracles happen with a touch of his finger."

"Yeah...haven't heard that before. Whazzat, Jesus or something?"

"They said it looked like him, but I wasn't referring to him. That one is somewhere out there, in the east – said Ryoga, pointing his hand to what he believed was east, which was, of course, west-south-west – I've heard it took down someone called Karnel, or something. Dunno, some big shot of the west. Fact is, seems like he's able to cure the mute and restore sight."

"Two Jesus, then! Or is it Jesuses?"

Ryoga grabbed the other man by the wrist, preventing him to move further.

"They said he has seven scars on his chest. Seven scars as to mimic the seven stars of the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper, Saotome!"

Enraged, Ranma broke free of the hold, spilling a lot of water in the process.

"What are you suggesting, Ryoga?"

"I'm saying that there may be a chance to fix..."

"FIX? – he started yelling – FIX? Whose fault it is if she's in that state in the first place? How can I even trust those maniacs?

You think that it can be fixed?
You weren't there, Ryoga! You didn't see! That was her father!"

Just remembering it made Ranma almost barf, forcing him to cover his mouth with his right hand. The whole room was painted red with blood and pieces of what was once a human being. The smell, strong enough to make people faint.

From that moment onwards, whenever Ranma heard the saying "picture of hell" he would always think of that moment.

But even in that mess, the blood wasn't enough to hide that face, deformed by pain unknown to man. They had to burn down the shack where Tendo-san hid to prevent his daughters from seeing his last moments. But, of course, trying to force Akane to do something she doesn't want to it's like trying to stop the bullet train barehanded. If forced to choose between those two alternatives, Ranma would have always picked the train: at least, it didn't strike back with a mallet.

But, that day, he should have been stronger. He should have been more forceful.

"SHISHI HOKODAN!"

A purple ki blast grazed Ranma's face with enough strenght to knock him down before taking flight and disappearing in the clouded sky.

Ryoga looked down on him, with a disgusted expression on his face.

"You are not the only who's suffering. But you keep forgetting that."

Then, he moved forward, leaving Ranma on the ground.

"Ryoga!" Ranma shouted

The man turned his head towards Ranma who pointed the direction opposite to where Ryoga was going.

"Your house is over here."

Ranko was playing with a ball made out of rags when Ranma came back. She tossed the ball in the air, and then she started to hit it to keep it floating.

She heard her father and tackled him. Of course, Ranma could have resisted the tackled, but choose to play along, and soon the little Ranko was sitting triumphant on his chest.

"Da'! You're back early!"

"Just to stay with you, little imp. What were you doing?"

"I was just showing Shoichi the Keep-the-ball-in-the-air move of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes-Martial-Arts!"

Koichi was Ryoga's son. However, there was no trace of him in sight. Ranma pointed this out to his little girl and Ranko sighted

"Geez, it happens every time. I wanted him to met mommy once and he kept appearing in auntie's room. Oh, house not big anyway. I can catch him."

The 7 years old looked determined, and Ranma felt pity for the guy who'll try to date her one day. Phisically, she looked just like his former female form, but her attitude was just like Akane's, which was not a good thing: since there's always need to repair stuff, there are a few too many mallets around.

"Da'! Story!"

The girl knocked on the floor (with enough strenght to crack it a little) to show her father were he was supposed to sit and then jumped on his lap.

"So...Do you want to hear the Tale of Pantyhose Taro?"

"Yes!"

"Once upon a time, there was a loser. He was a loser among losers. He was such a loser that everyone felt sorry for him. He has been a loser since birth..."

Ranko fell asleep while Ranma was telling the tale about how the handsome pigtailed protagonist smashed the loser pride with a single well-delivered kick, while the Pigman and Moomoo did nothing but watching.

Ranko never met Taro or Mousse. She never had a chance to taste Ucchan's okonomiyakis. Not before long, Ranma thought, she would forget how the world used to look like before all this madness.

Will she forget her mother's voice? How warm her hugs were?

He took her to the bed, founding Shoichi in the process. The boy was sleeping in the kitchen. He must have tried to came back to the living room before giving up.

Ryoga's genes were certaintly the dominant ones in this little one.

A little boy, just over 5 years old, that would never met his mother again. There's nothing anyone can do about it.

But maybe there was a chance for Ranko.

An hour later, Ranma had invaded Ryoga house. He managed to find Ryoga in his room and tossed a whole bucket full of cold water on him.

"YOU BLOODY BAST..."

"Goodmorning to you, Ryoga. That was for the Shishi Hokodan earlier today.

Now that we are even, tell me more about the man with seven scars on his chest."