Woes
-
"Ranma, I'm leaving. Soun and I'll be back in two days," Genma, the heavy set Saotome, yelled out and shifted the backpack on his shoulders.
Beside him, Soun fiddled with his own pack.
"Hurry up, you two! I wanna get to the beach today!" cried the incredibly small man standing behind them. His prunish features and minimal hair showed his incredible age. He barely topped two feet. "Oh, the beautiful lasses! So much wonderful, bronzed skin. It makes an old man weep!"
"Of course, Master!" Soun looked over his shoulder nervously, expecting to see Ranma show up to thwart Happosai.
"Mr. Saotome? Ranma isn't back from school yet. If you like, I can tell him the message," a young, conservatively dressed housewife asked, smiling cheerfully.
Genma and Soun slumped over, jaws slack in amazement. "Of, of, of course, Kasumi. What a considerate daughter you are."
"Buck up, Soun. It won't be bad. It'll be just like... old times!" Genma tried to say cheerfully.
Both grown men started to bawl as they realized Ranma wouldn't be able to rescue them from their aged master.
"All right! Let's get going. And quit your crying. You make an old man sorry he even trained two louts like you. And don't drop the saké!"
-
"We're home!" cried the duo at the door. Ranma dumped his school bag on the ground while slipping out of his slippers, while Akane put her bag down carefully while slipping out of her own tennis shoes.
"Why, hello you two. Father and Mr. Saotome went on some sort of trip with Happosai. They said they'd be back in a few days." Kasumi held out a batch of fresh baked cookies on a plate.
Without even noticing, the two teenagers grabbed the proffered treat. "Huh. So Happosai dragged them off again. They have no backbone. Sheesh."
"Ranma! Be nice!" Akane snapped out.
"What? It's just the truth!"
From behind them, in the entry, a voice called out, "Hello! Is anybody home?"
Kasumi was already gliding across the ground. "Please come in!" As the door slid open, an older woman stepped in. "Be welcome in our home."
"Thank you, that is quite gracious of you, dear. I'm looking for a Genma Saotome," she asked. Her gray hair was up in a traditional bun, which fit in nicely with her stately kimono.
"I'm afraid he's out right now. He should be back in a few days at the most."
Ranma stuck his head around the corner. Who was looking for his dad? Hopefully he didn't owe too much this time. Or hadn't engaged him again.
"Oh. It's really quite important. It's concerning his wife, you see. Pardon me, I am Achika Takanauchi. I'm Nodoka Saotome's neighbor." Achika looked quite worried. "Her husband really should be with her at this time."
Ranma looked dumbstruck. Shaking his head, he stepped out into the hall. "My... mother?"
Achika looked over her shoulder to see a young man. "You must be Ranma. Do you know where your father is?"
Ranma shook his head. "What's going on?"
The older lady frowned. "Your mother is in the hospital. She's..."
"What?!" Without waiting for a response, he scooped up the woman and dashed outside, bouncing over the wall at breakneck speeds.
-
"You could have told me she was in the maternity ward!" Ranma groused. He had been horribly frightened by the pronouncement.
"I wasn't the one who interrupted and dragged me off immediately. Remember?"
Akane nodded her agreement smugly. It had taken her a while to catch up to her fiancé.
Ranma blushed in embarrassment. He stopped and bowed quickly. "I'm really sorry about that."
A cheery laugh was his response. "I'm not holding it against you. I can understand your concern. Her pregnancy has been hard and I didn't exactly break it to you well."
"This way, please!" an officious nurse said, turning a corner and leading the group into a hospital ward room. "Mrs. Saotome? You have visitors." With that, she turned and walked out to continue her duties.
"Yes? Oh, Achiko! You're back so soon." The auburn haired women in the bed stopped speaking, her voice stolen away. "Is... that you, Ranma?"
Ranma nodded dumbly. He just didn't know what to say.
"Please, come here!" she demanded, taking him into a tight embrace when he complied. "Oh, your father has raised you to be a true man. I can see it! It's been so long! Can you believe it's been ten years?"
The pig-tailed martial artist returned the hug awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. I guess so." He cleared his throat. "So, um, about..." Ranma waved his hand vaguely in her direction.
Akane watched intently, her lips tightly pursed, simmering anger bubbling inside. How could he... standing there with his mother. He even had a mother! Unnoticed by anyone else, she clenched her fists, joints popping.
Nodoka giggled as she lowered the bed back down a bit. "How did you expect it to happen? I happened to bump into Genma nine months ago. He said he wasn't quite finished with his training voyage, but soon he would be."
"He didn't say anything..."
Akane blinked in surprise, hands gripped tightly in front of her. What did he mean?
"That doesn't really surprise me. He always maintained that I would 'coddle you, corrupting his teachings of the Art!'" her voice had slipped into an almost perfect imitation of Genma's voice. She started laughing, stopping herself with a groan of her pain.
"Are you all right?" Ranma asked worriedly. Strangely enough, even just a few minutes with her had reestablished old familial bonds.
His mother smiled wanly. "I'll be all right. I'm just a bit older this time around. I'm also over due. That's why I'd hoped that Genma would be by, so that he could be here when the doctor says we have to start." She closed her eyes. "So where is Genma?"
"He's, uh, training with the..." Ranma gulped audibly, "the Master."
Her eyes snapped open, shock written over them. "No... they said they buried him!"
Ranma shrugged. "He's a tough old coot and he survived. Says he's training me, but I think it's just an excuse to go out and, um..."
Akane nodded her agreement. For some reason, she just couldn't intrude more vocally. Wordlessly, Achika put her hand on her shoulder, seeming to sense the taut emotions within the young girl.
"Don't worry, dear. I know all about... him." She sighed. "I'll tell the doctor and we'll get started. In a short little while, you'll have a baby brother. I'm going to name him Tenma."
Ranma smiled shyly. "I... think I'd like that." And the name seemed so appropriate.
-
"Ranma, sit down! You're wearing a hole in the floor!" Akane snapped out, irritation easily evident. Why did she have to stay here? Why couldn't Kasumi or Nabiki have stayed?
The object of her wrath stopped, turning to look at her. "I'm just worried. It's taking so long." He seemed quite ragged.
Internally, Akane had to agree. But she was tired. And still upset about finding out that Ranma had a mother. "Well, walking in circles isn't going to help."
Ranma sidestepped a small group of surgery-garbed men as they went by at a trot, passing through the door into the maternity ward, an area he hadn't been allowed into. He sighed and sat down. "You're right."
It took Akane a moment to find her voice. Ranma agreed with her? "That's better." She droopily turned back to the magazine she was reading over again. It was almost dawn, after all.
The minutes dragged by slowly. The only other person there was a young Hispanic man, with a thick Brazilian accent. He had arrived a few hours ago with his wife.
"Ranma Saotome?" a tired voice called out.
Ranma bounced out of his chair and walked up. "Yes?"
The doctor looked around quickly, seeing who was here. His shoulders seemed permanently stooped. "I... have some bad news. You're mother was older than she really should have been. There were some complications." He gulped audibly. He really hated this part about being a doctor. "There wasn't anything we could do."
Ranma's blood turned to ice, his heart hammering away in his chest. Weakly, he said, "What?"
"Her body couldn't handle the stress. We lost her. We managed to..."
"What do you mean, you lost her?" Ranma cried out hoarsely.
"She hemorrhaged and we weren't able to stop the bleeding. There was nothing that we could do."
It was only now that Ranma saw the blood splattered front of his smock. "No. I... NO!" Ranma stepped past the doctor, shrugging off his clutching hands and pushed into the maternity wards. He almost ran down the hall, into the birthing room.
The view in the room would forever remain locked in his eyes. The too pale body stood in stark contrast to vivid red blood that a tired orderly was trying to clean up. Even as he watched, a nurse solemnly unfolded a sheet to cover her face.
Ranma's mouth opened and closed, small mewing sounds being the only thing he could manage to make. His eyes couldn't free themselves, even as an iron grip dragged him away.
-
Sometime later, Ranma realized that he'd been crying into a clothed shoulder. Soothing sounds crooned in his ears. Blurry tear-stained eyes finally focused on the neck and short-cropped hair that he could just make out.
"A-Akane?" His voice cracked from emotion and weariness, hoarse and hollow sounding.
"Yes, Ranma?" Akane's own voice sounded haggard.
Briefly, Ranma considered letting his fiancée go. It wouldn't even be thought of again. "Why? I'd just found her again. It isn't fair."
Akane tightened her hug in response to his own desperate pressure. "I don't know. I... just don't know. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
They stayed that way for a long while, sitting in the lounge. Slowly, by minutes and gentle rocking, despair became more bearable.
"Ayiiie! Akane try to steal husband! Thieves should die!"
Akane and Ranma split apart to look up in surprise to see Shampoo, Ukyo, Nabiki and Kasumi standing at the door.
With a clatter, Shampoo dropped her travel box of ramen, magically producing her bonbori. With a kia of anger, Shampoo swung the colorful, iron-wrought weapons at Akane's head.
There was a blur of motion and the Chinese girl stared dumbfoundly at her empty hands. Her attention was brought back to Ranma as he crushed the balls of the weapons. His face was a mask of pain and anger.
The other men in the room looked on in shock as ruins of the weapons clunked to the ground, chipping the linoleum. The mere expression on Ranma's face caused everyone to step back.
"Don't you even think of harming Akane." Ranma's voice tight, clipped and hard edged with cold anger. His whole body quivered as if he were a cable under enormous tension.
"Ranma! What wrong?" Shampoo said smoothly, trying to hide her abject terror. She had never seen Ranma this intense before.
Carefully, as if she were afraid that she was going to break him, Akane put her hand on his arm. "His mother just died."
All of the women present paled at that pronouncement. Nabiki backed out of the room quickly, not willing to deal with the situation, even if her sisters were there. Kasumi's smile became strained and taut with suppressed emotions.
And Ukyo? Her eyes burned with hatred at Akane for just a moment. True, she had lost her mother a long time ago, but she couldn't remember anything about her. Only her father's stories gave her even a hint of what she was like. All she could see was Akane taking her place, comforting Ranma.
But without a thought, her mask of concern slid over, sparkling compassion being the only thing evident.
"Ah hem. Excuse me? Are you Ranma Saotome?" a nurse asked from the doorway.
"Uh, yeah."
"As Nodoka Saotome's only family present, I need you to fill out some paperwork. I understand that there is also a Genma Saotome, your father, but he couldn't make it?"
Ranma nodded dumbly. He followed the woman to a small office, the other's way blocked by Akane.
"Oh, good. At least he isn't an orphan." A deep sigh of relief emanated from the woman.
That thought took a moment to seep into Ranma. "He... orphan? Huh?"
"The baby! Didn't you know that he survived?" She shuffled papers towards him, sliding a pen into his hand.
"He survived?" Slowly, a sense of purpose laid the first part of its foundation within him.
"He's a strong baby, really. We're going to watch him for a few hours, but he can probably go home today, when your father arrives."
Ranma scribbled in his signature on all of the forms. "I don't know when he's going to be back, but I'm staying at my fiancée's place. I think between all of us, we can take care of him until my pop gets home in a couple of days."
"Ah!" Extended families living under one home weren't that unusual, in Japan. "Is there an adult?"
"Kasumi's twenty I think, so I guess so."
"That will work out just right. It's so expensive to stay in a hospital."
-
Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo stared at each other, cold and angry auras almost visible. Kasumi sat to the side, watching the scene carefully. She was the only one who looked up when the door opened that Ranma had gone through earlier.
"Excuse me, miss? Are you Kasumi Tendo?" the same nurse asked.
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"I'll need you to fill out a release for the baby."
Kasumi blinked in surprise, feeling three sets of eyes gazing at her back. "Baby?"
The nurse smiled. "Yes. The baby survived and is quite healthy. Ranma's agreed to take care of the boy until his father can get home from his trip."
"A very mature thing for him to do. Of course I'll sign the necessary papers."
-
Ranma stared through the window at the rows of babies. There he was. Tenma. Ranma felt confused. Family had only consisted of himself and his father for so long, he wasn't sure what he was feeling.
"There you are, Ranma!" Kasumi exclaimed. She had the foresight to go out and purchase some baby necessities.
"Oh, hey. You got the stuff?"
"Of course. And here's the nurse!"
Said nurse walked around to the secured entrance with the little wrapped up bundle of joy. With just a little prodding, Ranma had his tiny brother cradled in his arms. Ranma couldn't believe how tiny (and red) the baby was.
"Heya, Tenma. Welcome to the family." Ranma brushed his finger lightly against Tenma's cheek.
Kasumi smiled, a mysterious quirk, barely on her lips. "Well, let's get him home."
-
Ranma was starting to regret taking responsibility for his little brother. He hadn't realized just how much work a little baby was. Only the quiet moments when Tenma had fallen asleep reminded Ranma of his reasons for doing this.
"Oh, he's finally asleep again?" Akane muttered fuzzily. It was evening and she was ready to go to bed after being up for almost thirty hours. Catnaps didn't count. Tenma had been a right terror for her. Not because he screamed, but because she was so scared of doing something wrong. Kasumi had shown them patiently how to change diapers and prepare the bottles of formula. Akane had to smile as she thought of Ranma reading one of those 'raising children' books. "That reminds me that we should both be off to bed! We've got school tomorrow."
"Can you hold him for a moment? I've gotta go!" Ranma explained. Akane seemed to know how to hold babies and to change their diapers. Kasumi had said to watch her in the kitchen and not let her make the formula alone. He'd been a little worried about that too.
Akane accepted the baby, cooing unconsciously to the peacefully sleeping tyke. As Ranma walked out of the room, she sat on Ranma's futon, a pile of her schoolbooks lying on the ground. Yawning slightly, she laid out on the futon for a second, carefully cradling the baby in her arms. She'd just lie down for a minute.
Five minutes later, Ranma came back to find Akane snoring softly. His heart froze, until he realized that she was loosely holding the baby, not tightly, as she did P-Chan. A small smile stole across his face. She looked so peaceful. And beautiful, he admitted to himself. He laid himself out on futon tiredly, his fingers tracing the delicate jaw of the infant. There was an unreality to the situation that he couldn't put his finger on.
Kasumi walked down the hall towards Ranma's room. Maybe Akane was there. She quietly slid open the door and looked in on the sleeping trio. A small smile formed on her lips. They looked so peaceful. She'd leave them for a while and put the food into the fridge. With quiet steps and stealthy motions, she covered them with a light blanket.
As she walked back down the stairs, she was already planning her note to explain where the food was.
-
Heavy footsteps caused heavy creaking. Claws scrabbled on the door, sliding it open. With a flick, the panda turned on the lights to his bedroom. He stared for a moment, unable to believe what he was seeing. Akane and Ranma in the same bed, asleep? He must get Soun...
A sudden unhappy crying of a child interrupted his train of thought. A baby? Where had that come from?
"Uh, I'm too tired." Ranma squinted at the light. He carefully sat up while scooping up the baby.
"What? Oh, Tenma's awake again?" Akane asked groggily.
"Woof?" Genma barked out, holding up a sign that asked, 'Whose baby?'
"Pop? You made it back finally?" Ranma finally noticed the sign. "This is my little brother. You know, your son."
Genma dropped the sign as his hair stood on end (a neat trick, as he was mostly bald.) He started to look around frantically. He was going to die!
"Mr. Saotome? Are you all right?"
The panda was suddenly waving six signs, all of them covered in jumbled words such as; "Wife?" "Seppeku!" "We're going to die!" "Must run!"
"What the hell are you talking about," Ranma asked groggily, rocking the baby. Tenma hiccupped and then started to cry softly.
Magically seeming, Genma poured a steaming kettle on his head. "We have to leave immediately! Our lives are in danger! It's too complicated to explain right now!"
"I'm not leaving! I have to take care of Tenma!" Ranma growled. The baby in question started crying louder, definitely unhappy to be awake.
"You don't understand! If your mother finds out about your curse, she'd going to kill us!" The bald man was sweating profusely.
"I have no idea what your yapping about, old man." His voice almost broke. "But Momma ain't gonna find out nothing."
"What are you talking about, boy?" Genma asked, confused.
Ranma opened his voice, but he couldn't form any words.
"Mrs. Saotome didn't survive the birth of Tenma." Akane was shocked at the changed to the old, lazy man that she knew.
A spark deep within him seemed to go out; a certain important part of him seemed to crumble to dust before her eyes. He stumbled to his knees, unable to say anything for long moment.
"Nodoka? Gone?"
"Yeah." Ranma rocked the baby a little bit. He carefully hugged his father with his free arm.
The aging father hugged his two children desperately close, sobbing uncontrollably.
-
"Ranma, I'm leaving. Soun and I'll be back in two days," Genma, the heavy set Saotome, yelled out and shifted the backpack on his shoulders.
Beside him, Soun fiddled with his own pack.
"Hurry up, you two! I wanna get to the beach today!" cried the incredibly small man standing behind them. His prunish features and minimal hair showed his incredible age. He barely topped two feet. "Oh, the beautiful lasses! So much wonderful, bronzed skin. It makes an old man weep!"
"Of course, Master!" Soun looked over his shoulder nervously, expecting to see Ranma show up to thwart Happosai.
"Mr. Saotome? Ranma isn't back from school yet. If you like, I can tell him the message," a young, conservatively dressed housewife asked, smiling cheerfully.
Genma and Soun slumped over, jaws slack in amazement. "Of, of, of course, Kasumi. What a considerate daughter you are."
"Buck up, Soun. It won't be bad. It'll be just like... old times!" Genma tried to say cheerfully.
Both grown men started to bawl as they realized Ranma wouldn't be able to rescue them from their aged master.
"All right! Let's get going. And quit your crying. You make an old man sorry he even trained two louts like you. And don't drop the saké!"
-
"We're home!" cried the duo at the door. Ranma dumped his school bag on the ground while slipping out of his slippers, while Akane put her bag down carefully while slipping out of her own tennis shoes.
"Why, hello you two. Father and Mr. Saotome went on some sort of trip with Happosai. They said they'd be back in a few days." Kasumi held out a batch of fresh baked cookies on a plate.
Without even noticing, the two teenagers grabbed the proffered treat. "Huh. So Happosai dragged them off again. They have no backbone. Sheesh."
"Ranma! Be nice!" Akane snapped out.
"What? It's just the truth!"
From behind them, in the entry, a voice called out, "Hello! Is anybody home?"
Kasumi was already gliding across the ground. "Please come in!" As the door slid open, an older woman stepped in. "Be welcome in our home."
"Thank you, that is quite gracious of you, dear. I'm looking for a Genma Saotome," she asked. Her gray hair was up in a traditional bun, which fit in nicely with her stately kimono.
"I'm afraid he's out right now. He should be back in a few days at the most."
Ranma stuck his head around the corner. Who was looking for his dad? Hopefully he didn't owe too much this time. Or hadn't engaged him again.
"Oh. It's really quite important. It's concerning his wife, you see. Pardon me, I am Achika Takanauchi. I'm Nodoka Saotome's neighbor." Achika looked quite worried. "Her husband really should be with her at this time."
Ranma looked dumbstruck. Shaking his head, he stepped out into the hall. "My... mother?"
Achika looked over her shoulder to see a young man. "You must be Ranma. Do you know where your father is?"
Ranma shook his head. "What's going on?"
The older lady frowned. "Your mother is in the hospital. She's..."
"What?!" Without waiting for a response, he scooped up the woman and dashed outside, bouncing over the wall at breakneck speeds.
-
"You could have told me she was in the maternity ward!" Ranma groused. He had been horribly frightened by the pronouncement.
"I wasn't the one who interrupted and dragged me off immediately. Remember?"
Akane nodded her agreement smugly. It had taken her a while to catch up to her fiancé.
Ranma blushed in embarrassment. He stopped and bowed quickly. "I'm really sorry about that."
A cheery laugh was his response. "I'm not holding it against you. I can understand your concern. Her pregnancy has been hard and I didn't exactly break it to you well."
"This way, please!" an officious nurse said, turning a corner and leading the group into a hospital ward room. "Mrs. Saotome? You have visitors." With that, she turned and walked out to continue her duties.
"Yes? Oh, Achiko! You're back so soon." The auburn haired women in the bed stopped speaking, her voice stolen away. "Is... that you, Ranma?"
Ranma nodded dumbly. He just didn't know what to say.
"Please, come here!" she demanded, taking him into a tight embrace when he complied. "Oh, your father has raised you to be a true man. I can see it! It's been so long! Can you believe it's been ten years?"
The pig-tailed martial artist returned the hug awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. I guess so." He cleared his throat. "So, um, about..." Ranma waved his hand vaguely in her direction.
Akane watched intently, her lips tightly pursed, simmering anger bubbling inside. How could he... standing there with his mother. He even had a mother! Unnoticed by anyone else, she clenched her fists, joints popping.
Nodoka giggled as she lowered the bed back down a bit. "How did you expect it to happen? I happened to bump into Genma nine months ago. He said he wasn't quite finished with his training voyage, but soon he would be."
"He didn't say anything..."
Akane blinked in surprise, hands gripped tightly in front of her. What did he mean?
"That doesn't really surprise me. He always maintained that I would 'coddle you, corrupting his teachings of the Art!'" her voice had slipped into an almost perfect imitation of Genma's voice. She started laughing, stopping herself with a groan of her pain.
"Are you all right?" Ranma asked worriedly. Strangely enough, even just a few minutes with her had reestablished old familial bonds.
His mother smiled wanly. "I'll be all right. I'm just a bit older this time around. I'm also over due. That's why I'd hoped that Genma would be by, so that he could be here when the doctor says we have to start." She closed her eyes. "So where is Genma?"
"He's, uh, training with the..." Ranma gulped audibly, "the Master."
Her eyes snapped open, shock written over them. "No... they said they buried him!"
Ranma shrugged. "He's a tough old coot and he survived. Says he's training me, but I think it's just an excuse to go out and, um..."
Akane nodded her agreement. For some reason, she just couldn't intrude more vocally. Wordlessly, Achika put her hand on her shoulder, seeming to sense the taut emotions within the young girl.
"Don't worry, dear. I know all about... him." She sighed. "I'll tell the doctor and we'll get started. In a short little while, you'll have a baby brother. I'm going to name him Tenma."
Ranma smiled shyly. "I... think I'd like that." And the name seemed so appropriate.
-
"Ranma, sit down! You're wearing a hole in the floor!" Akane snapped out, irritation easily evident. Why did she have to stay here? Why couldn't Kasumi or Nabiki have stayed?
The object of her wrath stopped, turning to look at her. "I'm just worried. It's taking so long." He seemed quite ragged.
Internally, Akane had to agree. But she was tired. And still upset about finding out that Ranma had a mother. "Well, walking in circles isn't going to help."
Ranma sidestepped a small group of surgery-garbed men as they went by at a trot, passing through the door into the maternity ward, an area he hadn't been allowed into. He sighed and sat down. "You're right."
It took Akane a moment to find her voice. Ranma agreed with her? "That's better." She droopily turned back to the magazine she was reading over again. It was almost dawn, after all.
The minutes dragged by slowly. The only other person there was a young Hispanic man, with a thick Brazilian accent. He had arrived a few hours ago with his wife.
"Ranma Saotome?" a tired voice called out.
Ranma bounced out of his chair and walked up. "Yes?"
The doctor looked around quickly, seeing who was here. His shoulders seemed permanently stooped. "I... have some bad news. You're mother was older than she really should have been. There were some complications." He gulped audibly. He really hated this part about being a doctor. "There wasn't anything we could do."
Ranma's blood turned to ice, his heart hammering away in his chest. Weakly, he said, "What?"
"Her body couldn't handle the stress. We lost her. We managed to..."
"What do you mean, you lost her?" Ranma cried out hoarsely.
"She hemorrhaged and we weren't able to stop the bleeding. There was nothing that we could do."
It was only now that Ranma saw the blood splattered front of his smock. "No. I... NO!" Ranma stepped past the doctor, shrugging off his clutching hands and pushed into the maternity wards. He almost ran down the hall, into the birthing room.
The view in the room would forever remain locked in his eyes. The too pale body stood in stark contrast to vivid red blood that a tired orderly was trying to clean up. Even as he watched, a nurse solemnly unfolded a sheet to cover her face.
Ranma's mouth opened and closed, small mewing sounds being the only thing he could manage to make. His eyes couldn't free themselves, even as an iron grip dragged him away.
-
Sometime later, Ranma realized that he'd been crying into a clothed shoulder. Soothing sounds crooned in his ears. Blurry tear-stained eyes finally focused on the neck and short-cropped hair that he could just make out.
"A-Akane?" His voice cracked from emotion and weariness, hoarse and hollow sounding.
"Yes, Ranma?" Akane's own voice sounded haggard.
Briefly, Ranma considered letting his fiancée go. It wouldn't even be thought of again. "Why? I'd just found her again. It isn't fair."
Akane tightened her hug in response to his own desperate pressure. "I don't know. I... just don't know. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
They stayed that way for a long while, sitting in the lounge. Slowly, by minutes and gentle rocking, despair became more bearable.
"Ayiiie! Akane try to steal husband! Thieves should die!"
Akane and Ranma split apart to look up in surprise to see Shampoo, Ukyo, Nabiki and Kasumi standing at the door.
With a clatter, Shampoo dropped her travel box of ramen, magically producing her bonbori. With a kia of anger, Shampoo swung the colorful, iron-wrought weapons at Akane's head.
There was a blur of motion and the Chinese girl stared dumbfoundly at her empty hands. Her attention was brought back to Ranma as he crushed the balls of the weapons. His face was a mask of pain and anger.
The other men in the room looked on in shock as ruins of the weapons clunked to the ground, chipping the linoleum. The mere expression on Ranma's face caused everyone to step back.
"Don't you even think of harming Akane." Ranma's voice tight, clipped and hard edged with cold anger. His whole body quivered as if he were a cable under enormous tension.
"Ranma! What wrong?" Shampoo said smoothly, trying to hide her abject terror. She had never seen Ranma this intense before.
Carefully, as if she were afraid that she was going to break him, Akane put her hand on his arm. "His mother just died."
All of the women present paled at that pronouncement. Nabiki backed out of the room quickly, not willing to deal with the situation, even if her sisters were there. Kasumi's smile became strained and taut with suppressed emotions.
And Ukyo? Her eyes burned with hatred at Akane for just a moment. True, she had lost her mother a long time ago, but she couldn't remember anything about her. Only her father's stories gave her even a hint of what she was like. All she could see was Akane taking her place, comforting Ranma.
But without a thought, her mask of concern slid over, sparkling compassion being the only thing evident.
"Ah hem. Excuse me? Are you Ranma Saotome?" a nurse asked from the doorway.
"Uh, yeah."
"As Nodoka Saotome's only family present, I need you to fill out some paperwork. I understand that there is also a Genma Saotome, your father, but he couldn't make it?"
Ranma nodded dumbly. He followed the woman to a small office, the other's way blocked by Akane.
"Oh, good. At least he isn't an orphan." A deep sigh of relief emanated from the woman.
That thought took a moment to seep into Ranma. "He... orphan? Huh?"
"The baby! Didn't you know that he survived?" She shuffled papers towards him, sliding a pen into his hand.
"He survived?" Slowly, a sense of purpose laid the first part of its foundation within him.
"He's a strong baby, really. We're going to watch him for a few hours, but he can probably go home today, when your father arrives."
Ranma scribbled in his signature on all of the forms. "I don't know when he's going to be back, but I'm staying at my fiancée's place. I think between all of us, we can take care of him until my pop gets home in a couple of days."
"Ah!" Extended families living under one home weren't that unusual, in Japan. "Is there an adult?"
"Kasumi's twenty I think, so I guess so."
"That will work out just right. It's so expensive to stay in a hospital."
-
Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo stared at each other, cold and angry auras almost visible. Kasumi sat to the side, watching the scene carefully. She was the only one who looked up when the door opened that Ranma had gone through earlier.
"Excuse me, miss? Are you Kasumi Tendo?" the same nurse asked.
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"I'll need you to fill out a release for the baby."
Kasumi blinked in surprise, feeling three sets of eyes gazing at her back. "Baby?"
The nurse smiled. "Yes. The baby survived and is quite healthy. Ranma's agreed to take care of the boy until his father can get home from his trip."
"A very mature thing for him to do. Of course I'll sign the necessary papers."
-
Ranma stared through the window at the rows of babies. There he was. Tenma. Ranma felt confused. Family had only consisted of himself and his father for so long, he wasn't sure what he was feeling.
"There you are, Ranma!" Kasumi exclaimed. She had the foresight to go out and purchase some baby necessities.
"Oh, hey. You got the stuff?"
"Of course. And here's the nurse!"
Said nurse walked around to the secured entrance with the little wrapped up bundle of joy. With just a little prodding, Ranma had his tiny brother cradled in his arms. Ranma couldn't believe how tiny (and red) the baby was.
"Heya, Tenma. Welcome to the family." Ranma brushed his finger lightly against Tenma's cheek.
Kasumi smiled, a mysterious quirk, barely on her lips. "Well, let's get him home."
-
Ranma was starting to regret taking responsibility for his little brother. He hadn't realized just how much work a little baby was. Only the quiet moments when Tenma had fallen asleep reminded Ranma of his reasons for doing this.
"Oh, he's finally asleep again?" Akane muttered fuzzily. It was evening and she was ready to go to bed after being up for almost thirty hours. Catnaps didn't count. Tenma had been a right terror for her. Not because he screamed, but because she was so scared of doing something wrong. Kasumi had shown them patiently how to change diapers and prepare the bottles of formula. Akane had to smile as she thought of Ranma reading one of those 'raising children' books. "That reminds me that we should both be off to bed! We've got school tomorrow."
"Can you hold him for a moment? I've gotta go!" Ranma explained. Akane seemed to know how to hold babies and to change their diapers. Kasumi had said to watch her in the kitchen and not let her make the formula alone. He'd been a little worried about that too.
Akane accepted the baby, cooing unconsciously to the peacefully sleeping tyke. As Ranma walked out of the room, she sat on Ranma's futon, a pile of her schoolbooks lying on the ground. Yawning slightly, she laid out on the futon for a second, carefully cradling the baby in her arms. She'd just lie down for a minute.
Five minutes later, Ranma came back to find Akane snoring softly. His heart froze, until he realized that she was loosely holding the baby, not tightly, as she did P-Chan. A small smile stole across his face. She looked so peaceful. And beautiful, he admitted to himself. He laid himself out on futon tiredly, his fingers tracing the delicate jaw of the infant. There was an unreality to the situation that he couldn't put his finger on.
Kasumi walked down the hall towards Ranma's room. Maybe Akane was there. She quietly slid open the door and looked in on the sleeping trio. A small smile formed on her lips. They looked so peaceful. She'd leave them for a while and put the food into the fridge. With quiet steps and stealthy motions, she covered them with a light blanket.
As she walked back down the stairs, she was already planning her note to explain where the food was.
-
Heavy footsteps caused heavy creaking. Claws scrabbled on the door, sliding it open. With a flick, the panda turned on the lights to his bedroom. He stared for a moment, unable to believe what he was seeing. Akane and Ranma in the same bed, asleep? He must get Soun...
A sudden unhappy crying of a child interrupted his train of thought. A baby? Where had that come from?
"Uh, I'm too tired." Ranma squinted at the light. He carefully sat up while scooping up the baby.
"What? Oh, Tenma's awake again?" Akane asked groggily.
"Woof?" Genma barked out, holding up a sign that asked, 'Whose baby?'
"Pop? You made it back finally?" Ranma finally noticed the sign. "This is my little brother. You know, your son."
Genma dropped the sign as his hair stood on end (a neat trick, as he was mostly bald.) He started to look around frantically. He was going to die!
"Mr. Saotome? Are you all right?"
The panda was suddenly waving six signs, all of them covered in jumbled words such as; "Wife?" "Seppeku!" "We're going to die!" "Must run!"
"What the hell are you talking about," Ranma asked groggily, rocking the baby. Tenma hiccupped and then started to cry softly.
Magically seeming, Genma poured a steaming kettle on his head. "We have to leave immediately! Our lives are in danger! It's too complicated to explain right now!"
"I'm not leaving! I have to take care of Tenma!" Ranma growled. The baby in question started crying louder, definitely unhappy to be awake.
"You don't understand! If your mother finds out about your curse, she'd going to kill us!" The bald man was sweating profusely.
"I have no idea what your yapping about, old man." His voice almost broke. "But Momma ain't gonna find out nothing."
"What are you talking about, boy?" Genma asked, confused.
Ranma opened his voice, but he couldn't form any words.
"Mrs. Saotome didn't survive the birth of Tenma." Akane was shocked at the changed to the old, lazy man that she knew.
A spark deep within him seemed to go out; a certain important part of him seemed to crumble to dust before her eyes. He stumbled to his knees, unable to say anything for long moment.
"Nodoka? Gone?"
"Yeah." Ranma rocked the baby a little bit. He carefully hugged his father with his free arm.
The aging father hugged his two children desperately close, sobbing uncontrollably.