Against the Odds
Chapter One
Akane let out a long yawn and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel tightly around her now attractively mature curved body. She leaned forward and cleaned off a small area on the mirror for her head. The rest of it the mirror covered in condensation. She flicked her bangs from her eyes and stared at her hair. It had grown so long. After her and Ranma got married she'd never cut it. Now here they were, six years later, and her air was to the small of her back.
Akane began dressing herself, moving slowly. She was hard away at thinking. Ranma's birthday was next week and she was brainstorming what she was going to get him. Ranma had indeed changed a lot over the years. When they were sixteen Ranma was constantly running around ticking people off and getting punched in the face, but as the years crept by together as a married couple he began thinking before he spoke (even though sometime he just blurted out whatever was at the top of his mind) and he seemed more silently determined for his goals, rather than just parading around screaming what he was going to do next.
He was going to be twenty-three next. Geez, Akane thought, wrapping her hair up into a her towel. She was now wearing the same fashion she wore when she was a teenager. The clothing was rare among people but she was more into comfort than style. So a traditional suspender skirt and sweater was normal. Ranma still dressed the same as well in his Chinese-like clothes. That seems so old, Akane shook her head. She unwrapped the towel on her head and began roughly drying it. She exited the bathroom and walked down the hall of Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Or as she still originally thought of it, The Tendo School.
Akane tossed the towel in the laundry room. She'd wash it later. She strolled into her and Ranma's room and began getting the snarls out of her long hair. "Ouch," Akane murmered as a her hair brush got snagged in knot. She continued yanking and yanking. Her scalp was beginning to hurt but still she pulled. No way is this knot going to stay there! Akane ground her teeth pulling harder.
RINNNNNNG! ripped through the air, startling Akane. She released the brush and now it just dangled in her air, weighing that side of her head down. Akane bounded down the hall way, slid down the railing (she claimed it to be fun and remind her of youth) and leapt gracefully into the kitchen. Sadly, the brush continued beating against her head over and over again, determined not to fall out of the raging snarl in her hair. Akane ripped the phone from the receiver and tried to press it to her left ear, but the brush got in the way. She sighed as the two clattered together. She switched ears and leaned against the counter.
"Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, Akane Saotome speaking," Akane rehearsed into the phone, picking at her fingernail.
"Yes, hello," came a male voice on the other side of the phone. Something about the tone made Akane doubt he was calling about classes, "I'm Lanny Ziefeld from the Tokyo Asylum." Akane's heart nearly thudded to a stop. "I'm calling to confirm with Drager's immediate family that he is ready to be released from the asylum. Are you part of his immediate family?"
It took Akane a moment to find her voice. She watched Ranma stroll nonchalantly into the kitchen. He bent into the fridge and pulled a shiny red apple out. He rubbed in on his red shirt and then took a crunchy bite out of it. "Y-yes," Akane replied into the receiever, "I'm his... sister-in-law." Ranma hopped up onto the counter and sat criss-cross. He glanced at Akane who was hugging the receiever to her ear, cupping the mouth of it.
"Then could you and Mr. Ranma Saotome head down to the asylum tomorrow to pick him up?" Lanny asked, "We'd like for Drager to stay with his brother for a period of seven months before he is allowed to be admitted back into society. Is this understood?"
Seven months? Akane's mind almost went blank. Infact, she almost dropped the phone. The man cleared his voice, obviously awaiting an answer from the shocked Akane. "Y-yes, sir. Of course. I understand." Akane stammered for the appropiate line for a moment. "Th... thank you." Akane numbly hung the phone back up and then stared at the wall across from her.
"Yo, Akane," Ranma said, swallowing a mouthful of apple, "Who was that on the phone? Another student?" Akane shook her head, "I'm guessin' it's bad news." Akane nodded. "Well, who was it? I don't like guessin' this early in the morning." Akane turned towards Ranma at a loss of words. "Uhm... you do realize there is a brush in your hair, right?" Ranma asked, pointing to the instrument used for combing. Akane nodded dumbly. Then with a force, she pushed right through the snarl. She patted it into the side of her head and then ran it through the rest of her hair while Ranma finished off his apple. He tossed the core in the direction of the trash but missed. Ranma moaned and crossed to pick it up, "So? Who was it?"
"Who was what?" Akane asked, distantly. She set the brush on the counter, her eyes still wide with shock.
"The guy on the phone," Ranma turned to her, slightly agitated. "Who just called you?"
"Oh," Akane lightly touched her forehead, then turned back to Ranma, "That was Lanny Ziefeld." Ranma cocked an eyebrow up at her not having the slightest idea of who that was. "He's from the... the asylum," Akane said, almost whispering this part, "Drager is getting released... we have to go pick him up tomorrow."
"What?" Ranma hissed, his brow furrowing, "And you told him yes?"
"Of course I did," Akane shot back, "The man said that he has to live with you, Ranma Saotome, for seven months before he can go into public himself."
"I visited him all these years. He was doin' fine in the asylum," Ranma murmered, "Why would they want him here? Does no one there remember the Saotome v Saotome case from six years ago?" Akane fell against the counter, letting out an uneven sigh. She placed her hands on her lower abdomen. Her face fell. "Oh, Akane," He crossed to her, placing a light hand on her upper-arm. "I don't have an idea about what we're gonna do with Drager," She tensed a little at this, "Look at me." She didn't move to make eye contact. Ranma cupped her cheek and manually made her meet his gaze, "I promise you, he will never lay a hand on you like he did when we were younger. Okay?" Akane's shimmered in the kitchen light. "Okay?" He asked again. Akane nodded slowly, exhaling unevenly.
"I trust you, Ranma."
...
Akane was sitting on the counter later that afternoon. Ranma peaked in before the teenage class to see what Akane was doing still in the kitchen. She didn't even notice him peak in. Akane would pick up the phone, dial in a number and hang it back up as she listened to the first few rings. He had asked what she was up to earlier. She simply replied, calling father to tell him of the wonderful news about Drager's admittance.
He walked in and for the hundredth time, Akane slammed the phone down on the receiver, too scared to go through with it. Ranma lifted Akane from the counter and set her down, putting his hands on his hips, he stared deep into Akane's eyes, "Why don't you teach the class today?" Ranma asked, cocking an eyebrow up, "You need a mind-clearer anyway." Akane shook her head and turned back for the phone but Ranma firmly planted his hands on Akane's shoulders, "Come on, Akane. I'll call them. Go get ready for class." She turned back to Ranma.
"T... thanks," She murmered and was about to walk past her when Ranma leaned down and placed a light kiss on her forehead. She looked up at him. There was a firm light in his eyes and suddenly she understood everything. Once she left, Ranma just stared at the phone.
Is this what Akane was feeling? Ranma wondered as he stared at the phone. At moments he felt confident to call and tell them the news, but then his confidence would shrink away as his finger mashed the first button. He listened to the first rings, wondering if even he, himself, was going to chicken out. Hopefully Soun will answer, Ranma twirled the cord in his hand. Ever since Nabiki moved to France to further her study of business and Kasumi married Dr. Tofu, it seemed no one ever answered the phone. It went to voicemail, but Ranma hung up and redialed, swearing under his breath. Come on, Pops. I know you're old and tired, but get off your lazy ass and come answer the phone. It continued ringing and ringing. It reminded Ranma of when he was sixteen. He was bent over the receiever of the phone, cupping it close to his mouth, listening to the rings. He was praying for his mother to pick up.
That seemed like forever ago.
"Watch this!" Someone called. Ranma turned, the phone still pressed to his ear. He saw someone through the small curtain that seperated the kitchen from the eating area. He could see pink toddler shoes that lit up. She was doing cartwheels all over the table.
"Hello?" Mrs. Saotome's voice filled the receiver, but Ranma slammed the phone down and began racing towards the cartwheeling toddler.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Ranma burst through the curtains and froze when he saw the innocent little girl stop. Her. Ranma's eyes shimmered as he stared down on the little girl. She had her hands clasped behind her back. The toe of her shoe was nervously digging into the surface of the fine dining table. She was still in the same clothes. The overalls and striped sweater. Her hair was a deep black similar to Ranma's and it was done back in two braids. The little girl brought her eyes up to meet Ranma's gaze and he was shocked to see how familiar those eyes looked.
I remember her, Ranma thought, still staring at her. She haunted me for a long time while I was teenager. It was right after we figured out Akane couldn't have kids. But who is she? What's her name? And who is she supposed to be representing? Ranma stared deeper into those big blue eyes. It was a deep blue and there was something in them that surprised Ranma. Knowledge. She was aware of things around her. Her eyes seemed to carry wisdom in them that even a monk of fifty years still wasn't worthy to carry. There was a familiar light in them, too. A firmness. She would stick by her decision, whether it be about the Mayor of Tokyo or the shade of her purple crayon. Ranma knew someone like her. Was she just taking after them.
"Hi," Ranma said as evenly as possible. The little girl stared back for a few moments. He could see her calculating her words and forming the perfect sentence. Something smart. Something that a grown-up would say.
"Hi," Was all she replied with though. Ranma stood up straighter now, trying to calm his thudding heart.
I'm talking to a little girl that doesn't exist. Ranma thought to himself, Did I faint when I picked the phone up? Ranma looked down at the ground for a moment wondering what to do next. She seemed ghostly. He knew she wasn't real. He'd first seen her when he took Akane to Dr. Tofu's after she retore her healing tissue. He knew she wasn't real then and there was no way she was alive now. Was this supposed to be his 'guardian angel'? Was her ghostly figure supposed to step in for the fact that they will never have children?
"Momma told me I was gonna have a little brother soon," Ranma was surprised by how baby-like the little girl sounded. Her eyes deceieved the tone of her voice, "She said he was on his way. Is he comin' in the mail?" Ranma let the words sink into him. There was no way that little girl actually spoke and thought like that. She was far too advanced for her age. Her actions even surprised Ranma. She brought her thumb up and simply sucked on it.
"How old are you?" Ranma asked, hesitently. The little girl looked down at her hand and stared at her stubby fingers for a few moments. Can she count? Ranma wondered as she stared between all five fingers. She then brought up two and held it out for him to see, "You're two years old?" The little girl nodded, confirming this. "Wh... what's your name?" This question surprised Ranma. He didn't mean to ask that. He'd gone six years without needing to know the little girls name, but now something made him need to know. She slowly drew her thumb from her mouth and stared at him. She scanned his body. Ranma tried to untense as much. He learned through the toddler martial arts classes that the younger ones tend to notice body language more than tone. So whenever he spoke to them or interacted with them, he needed to be as loose as possible. Kids get stressed when someones muscles are locked tight and tense.
"Aiko," She said.
"Ranma!" Both of their heads shot to the hallway. Akane strolled into the room pulling her long hair into a tight pony-tail, "Did you call them?" She froze when she saw a tense Ranma. His legs were bent and looked like she was kneeling over to talking to someone. She looked around the room and saw no one, "Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."
I think I did, Ranma thought. He looked where Aiko once stood on the table, but she was gone now. "Uhm," Ranma rubbed the back of his head, straightening up. "I haven't called yet. I'll do that now. You go teach class." She actually laughed that giggle that made Ranma smile.
"Right away, Chief."
"Damn straight," Ranma teased as he entered the kitchen. He mashed the buttons in and listened to it rang. The ringing is what set his nerves on edge. He played with the cord waiting and waiting. Damn adults. Gettin' so old.
"Hello?" It was Mrs. Saotome, "Is this the person who called earlier?"
"Yeah," Ranma replied into the receiever, "Sorry 'bout that, Mom. Something came up and I had to hang the phone up." He heard his mother's heart laugh from the other end of the phone, "Sorry to be calling on a Monday evening. Bad time of the day to call is what you always said."
"It's not a bother when you're old, sweetie," Mrs. Saotome told him, good naturedely, "Now. Is something wrong, Ranma?"
"No, no..." Ranma said, then exhaled heavily into the receiever, "Well. I mean nothing is wrong. I got some news for ya, though."
"What is it?"
"Well, Akane and I got a call today," Ranma began, but was interjected by Mrs. Saotome's high pitched scream. He had to hold the phone away for his ear and hope that would stop soon.
"She's pregnant, isn't she?" Mrs. Saotome guessed.
"No, not that, Mom," Ranma shook his head. He heard her sigh, "Look. I gotta make this quick. It's killin' me, too. Akane and I got a call today from the asylum. Drager is gettin' admitted tomorrow and he has to stay with me for seven months." Silence. Ranma grew slightly anxious as he waited for his mother to say something. Ranma suddenly heard a lot of clattering from the other side of the line. "Mom? Mom?" Ranma called into the phone.
"Nadoka?" He heard the distant call of his father. There were pattering of feet to be heard and Ranma pressed the phone really close to his ear to pick everything up. There was then a fumbling with the phone, "This is Genma Saotome. Whatever you just said to my wife knocked her out cold."
"Mom's down!" Ranma gasped into the phone.
"Boy? Is that you? What the hell did you say that nearly killed your mom?"
"Pops, you ain't man enough to handle it," Ranma rolled his eyes. He heard Genma growl from the other side of the line, "Drager's gettin' admitted from the asylum tomorrow. He has to live with me for seven months." Another thud. Ranma exhaled loudly and heard Soun trying to call them back. Ranma slammed the phone onto the receiever, saving Soun from a trip to the ground as well. Darn parents, Ranma rolled his eyes, strolling from the kitchen, can't take news anymore.
It was like that three Thanksgivings ago. Akane and Ranma joined Nabiki, Kasumi, Dr. Tofu, Soun, Genma, and Mrs. Saotome in Nagasaki in their new home. While everyone was making toasts and Soun was about to make the first cut into the turkey, Nabiki rose and cleared her throat, trying to get the point across that it was clearly a delicate and serious topic she wanted to convey.
"Living here in Nagasaki has been real fun," Nabiki was saying, sloshing her champagne around in her glass, "I've enjoyed the college education and sights to behold here. But I have a hard announcement to tell you guys. I accepted a new course in furthering my education in business," A round of applause went around the table. Soun murmered something about her being an ambitious girl, "but the course is in France." A silence came over the room. No one said anything. Everyone could probably hear a pin drop. Everyone gasped and came to their feet as Soun fell backwards and thudded harshly to the ground.
Ranma heard Akane's instructing echoing from the dojo. Ever since Ranma and Akane took the dojo over the amount of students and education doubled and tripled. They sky-rocketed with money. Ranma smiled as he heard the teenagers grunts and complains. It was the girl class, so he heard a student ask Akane if she could sit out because she had cramps. Akane's simple answer to that? Take a five minute water break. When Ranma taught the teenage girl class, which was rarely, if he ever had done it more than once. But he remembered the first time he did it.
He was helping the girls with high and low kicks. He showed them how their muscles should come out. Having the curse of being girl (though he didn't tell the girls this) helped him better understand the proportion and muscle fusing in a girls body. It helped him teach them the high kick easier. It a guy, alot of the strength would go through the hip and calf, but in a female it should go through their thighs.
Ranma had told them to continue in a line up of doing high kick, low kick, low kick, hook left, hook right, uppercut and repeat. He watched the girls set about, correcting a few of them every now and then, but a girl staggered over to him clumsily. She pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose and pulled on Ranma's instructor sleeve.
"Yes, Hikaru?" Ranma glanced at over his shoulder at her. He was currently occupied with another student who was having trouble executing the high kick properly.
"Can I speak to you... alone?" Hikaru asked nervously. She was only about thirteen. She was wringing her hands and glancing around nervously. She pushed her glasses up her nose again and waited impatiently for Ranma to finish correcting the student. Hikaru then led him to a corner far from the other girls.
"Okay. What is it?" Ranma asked, giving his student his full attention. Hikaru stared at the ground for a moment. "Hikaru?"
"Is it okay if I sit out and just watch for a little bit?" Hikaru asked, now meeting her sensei's gaze. She pushed her glasses up her nose and waited anxiously for Ranma's reponse.
"Can I ask why?" Ranma countered, crossing his arms, "You were doing the punches perfectly earlier. Can you not do kicks? I can help you better understand them."
"No," Hikaru choked for a moment, "It isn't that sensei..." Hikaru now curled one of her light brown strands of hair around her index finger nervously, "I have... menstrual cramps." The red alert sirons went off in Ranma's mind.
Did she seriously just say that to me? Ranma's mind blaired. He tried to keep his face straight. Hikaru's had already turned a bright pink. Her hand was resting on her abdomen, like Akane did so often when she would think about her inability to get pregnant. Well, what do I tell a girl who is probably expirencing a period for the first time? Ranma thought, trying to calculate everything perfectly. "Hikaru," He began, hoping what he came up with didn't sound stupid. He was trying his best to relate to a young females mind. That was one thing his curse could never do for him, "What if I gave everyone in the class a new puppy?" Her brow furrowed together.
"I guess that'd be really cool," Hikaru replied after a moment.
"Exactly. But... let's say I give Ayako over there a rare species of a puppy. Would that be fair?" Ranma asked, hoping this was making sense in the young girls head.
"No, it wouldn't be." Hikaru said.
"Then how would it be fair if every girl came up to me and told me of her... er... cramps and I made them keep training, but I let you sit out?" Ranma asked.
"I guess it wouldn't be that fair," Hikaru murmered. Her face showed miserableness about her defeat against her sensei. He watched her sulk back to her spot and began getting back into pattern with the rest of the girls.
Glad I never have to deal with... menstration.
Ranma didn't laugh at then, but he sure did laugh at it now. Ranma began upstairs knowing he had an hour and forty-five minutes to chill before the class was over. He wondered to his and Akane's room. He looked at the familiar present that Akane gave him the Christmas they were in the hospital. He looked at the other photo of their honeymoon in China. They were both pointing to a sign that read in Chinese, Noodle House of Ranma. The owners name was Ranma, actually. That's when a light went off in Ranma's head.
"My birthday," He gasped. "Ah, damn. I'm gonna be twenty-three." Ranma's eyes began darting around the room, "Hm... I wonder if Akane has bought my present yet?" Ranma dove into the closet, tearing everything apart. He threw shoe boxes here and there, checked coat pockets, in Akane's skirts, and even checked their wedding album for something. Anything that gave him a hint as to what Akane possibly was getting Ranma.
He sat in the closet now, the ground messy with things everywhere. Their shoes were out of place, along with different types of equipment such as baseball bats (Akane said it was nice to have protection when Ranma was away at Dojo-Owner Conventions) and some books were turned over, but Ranma just sat criss-cross among the mess trying to figure something out.
What would Akane be buying me this year? He thought eagerly. That's when the door slid open, but Ranma didn't hear it. He was to busy brainstorming possible birthday presents.
"Ranma?" Akane's voice ripped through his thoughts, "What did you do?" She looked horrified at the mess in the closet, her eyes darting among everything. She put her hands on her hips, "You better have a good explanation, Ranma!"
"I do," Ranma shot to his feet and marched from the closet, his short braid following him, "There was a monster in the closet trying to steal my bir-... trying to steal your panties!"
"Happosai?" Akane asked, cocking an eyebrow up, "And what was that first thing you were gonna say? Trying to steal your what?" Ranma let out an audible gulp now. "Ranma, were you gonna say birthday present?" Ranma shook his head furiously, determined not to tell the truth, "Oh okay, then. Happosai was really here then, trying to steal my panties, huh?" Ranma nodded, too scared to use his voice, "Well then, I'll just put you on night-duty to make sure scary little panty thief doesn't come back. That sounds fair for a loving husband, doesn't it?" Akane teased. "Now come on, let's clean the closet up."