Chapter 1: Awakening to Confusion

Ranma Saotome felt a smooth warm breeze embrace him. His breathing was relaxed and as regulated as a seconds hand in a clock. He was in a complete state of peace and calm which he rarely had the opportunity to enjoy. The birds' chirping was a welcoming background noise for his ears. He was neither cold nor warm, and absolutely dry. He could not help to smile to himself; this was the perfect vacation he had always wanted.

However, he soon recognized he was not vacationing.

His mind began feeling uneasy when he realized he was unaware of his current state of affairs. What had he done to deserve this? What was this?

He attempted to yawn as his eyes opened, and then visibly flinched at the bright light coming from the open window. The curtains fluttered at the rhythm of the delicate wind that kept the room cool, despite the burning sun shining thru. His eyes quickly adjusted to the change of light and saw a machine attached to his mouth; it was an artificial breather. He began to feel like he was choking. He slowly pulled it off him –despite the unfamiliar pain in his arms, gagging as he did so, and then looked up. He tried to shield his corneas from the sun but his arms seemed very heavy. In fact, his entire body felt like it had sustained a very long and tiresome battle.

"A battle? Who did I piss off now?"

Ranma scanned the room as he tried to figure out where he was. His first thought was that he was home but none of the Tendos' rooms looked like this one. His second thought was that he was at Dr. Tofu, but the kindhearted man had not been heard off for months now. He then tried to remember what Ukyo's, Shampoo's or even Kodachi's house looked like. Neither of them matched the current scenery.

In front of the bed he was resting on was a huge window, but all he could see from where he lay was the blue sky. The bed was on a corner opposite to the door. There was another door on the wall in front of where the bed rested. He figured one of them was the entrance, and the other one was either a bathroom or a closet. He stretched his body as far as he could until he heard some bones pop, and felt his muscles complain. Whatever or whoever had used him as a training dummy must have been either very strong or very upset.

He troubledly lifted his right arm and saw a small heart monitor attached to his index finger. He clumsily used his other hand and pulled it off. The machine it was plugged in to went insane and began beeping. Ranma clumsily covered his ears as he searched for the electric cord of the offending machine and haphazardly unplugged it. He then strainedly pushed himself up to a sitting position on the bed. An easy task as this had proven to be very difficult for him. He tried to move his legs but they were extremely cramped. His neck was very stiff and his back needed major massaging. He looked down at his body as he lifted the blanket, and realized he was wearing nothing but a white undershirt and boxers. He did not find any noticeable bruises or scratches, or any other anomaly in his body other than the already well-known scars from previous battles. He could not understand why he was so sore. He could not believe how heavy his breathing was; all he had done was sitting up on the bed.

He had a funny taste on the back of his mouth as he realized he was very thirsty. He moved to the side of the bed and stood up for a fraction of a second before he collapsed on the floor.

"What the hell?"

He placed plenty of force on his arms to force himself to sit up on the floor and rest his back against the bed. He pulled his legs closer to him and began massaging them. He felt like every other aftermath where Kodachi had managed to pull one of her paralysis stunts on him. This time, though, she had surely overdone it on him. Ranma heard shuffling and footsteps approaching the room. He sighed at what he knew was coming to him. He expected one of his crazy fiancées to appear in front of the door, but he saw none. He blinked several times to make sure he was not seeing things, and that the person in front of him was truly there.

"Ranma! You're awake!"

A nurse followed the surprised woman and sat on the floor to check Ranma's vital signs. Ranma became aware that he was only wearing a pair of thin boxers before he attempted to cover up his embarrassment as he spoke.

"I'm awake, my body ain't," he told his mother. Nodoka smiled at him and walked towards him. She sat on the floor next to him and began her motherly inspection. "How do you feel?"

"Like a train rode over me. Who tricked me?"

"That's not important at the moment. Are you hungry?"

Ranma placed a hand on his belly as it answered for him. "I'd like that."

The nurse smiled and nodded at Nodoka, stating that Ranma was going to be alright. She stood up and excused herself, announcing she would be back soon with something for Ranma to eat. His mother smiled at him and helped him stand up and then sit on the bed. He sighed at the amount of force it had taken for him to move from the floor to the bed. Requiring so much force to do something as simple as move two feet between one place and another, was extremely ridiculous. He tried his best to hide his laborious breathing. "Mom, where are we?"

Nodoka placed her hand on his head and patted him, choosing to ignore the drops of sweat making their way down her son's forehead. "Nerima Hospital."

"Nerima…Hospital? Why?"

Nodoka forced herself to smile as she spoke. "Nothing to worry about anymore; as soon as the doctor says you're OK, we're going back home."

"Ok."

Ranma stared at his mother, trying to decipher whatever it was that she was not telling him. He could not remember what he had been doing before waking up here, and she was not willing to give out any clues about it either, at least not yet. He rubbed his forehead with his hand as attempting to remember gave him a slight headache.

"Mom, what happened to me?"

Nodoka tilted her head and gave him a pained look. She knew this moment would come, but she was not ready to tell him the truth. He had just woken up and the news she had for him where not something to be taken lightly. She held up a sigh and gave him another fake smile again. "We'll talk right after you eat, ok?"

Ranma had no intention of letting the issue go, and had every intention on continue to ask what had transpired. He opened his mouth to express his confusion but a doctor and the nurse that had been there just moments ago, walked in.

"Ranma Saotome," the doctor began. "I've heard you're quite the fighter."

Ranma had no reply and shrugged to emphasize his lack of response. The nurse laid a tray of food on a rolling table. She then pulled the table close to Ranma's bed. He glanced at the food for a few seconds before looking up to his mother with a smirk and spoke. "Akane didn't make these, right?"

The doctor, who had been reading Ranma's medical charts stopped on his tracks. He looked up and stared at Nodoka who shook her head. The nurse immediately bowed to him and quickly left the room, trying to avoid the awkward moment. Ranma stared back and forth from his mother to the doctor, waiting for any of them to speak up. "What did I say? You know I'm kidding."

He stared intently at the door. When a blue-haired girl did not walk into the room, ready to pound him back to bed, he shrugged and determined that Akane was not around –or close enough, to hear his attempt to initiate their well-known banter. He grabbed a fork and began picking his food, trying to figure out what to eat first, and pretending that achieving such task was not as challenging as mastering the Ascending Dragon Strike technique. He took one bite of the toast and then spoke again.

"Where's Akane, anyway?"

The doctor stared at him and then at Nodoka. He placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it before he bowed to the both of them, and left the room inviting Nodoka to step outside the room. Ranma did not see this gesture as he was still focused on his food, and hardly noticed when both adults left the room.

"It seems he's fine," the doctor began stating after he was certain they were both out of the patient's reach. "He will just need a little bit of physical therapy for his cramped muscles. Everything else we've been checking for has come out clear. There's nothing to worry about."

Nodoka nodded. "Will he be able to go back to his martial arts?"

"Oh, definitely! He has a strong health history to back him up. But, as you already saw, he doesn't remember anything of what happened. We are uncertain as to how much he remembers; you'll need to find out."

"I don't think he remembers enough. I don't wish to upset him with the news. Should I put it off?"

The doctor sighed. Patients who were lucky enough to come back from a coma were usually confused and displayed some memory loss. It was not suggested to inform patients of shocking news immediately after they had woken up. However, what Nodoka had to tell him would be fairly obvious after they returned home.

"You can tell him here if you want. If he gets too upset we can dose him with tranquilizers."

Nodoka shook her head. "He's been here long enough. I want my son to come home with me."

The doctor nodded as he signed some papers, giving Nodoka the release forms. "A nurse will be here with a wheelchair that you can take home. He can start attending physical therapy next week. His fighter background will help him get better in no time, you'll see."

Nodoka grabbed the paperwork and bowed to the doctor. Without saying another word, she walked back into the room. Ranma had finished his food and was now trying massaging his legs. "The doctor said we can go home. You can come by next week to get help with that," she said as she pointed to his leg massaging. "He said you'll be a little cramped for a few weeks." More like months, she knew but did not share with him.

"Great," he said sarcastically.

"I'll go get us a cab, ok?"

Ranma smiled and saw the image of his mother being replaced by the image of the same nurse that brought him food earlier. She was pushing a wheelchair. Ranma sighed. He hated being a burden, but for the life of him, he could not make his legs respond as usual. He was determined not to wait until next week for his recovery to begin. He was going to ask Akane to help him out tonight.

Ranma couldn't help but wonder why his mom looked so concerned. He smiled at her to reassure her he was going to be just fine. He had, in all truth, survived worse things in the past.

"Don't look so worried, Ma! I'll be walkin' on fences in no time."

Nodoka nodded but didn't respond to his attempt to cheer her up.

In what seemed like forever to Ranma, he was on a cab with his mother, and on the way home. He was amazed to see the streets of Nerima so busy with hyperactive youngsters. He looked at the clock in the front of the cab and saw it was almost the middle of the day. "Don't these kids have school to go to or something?"

The thought of school only served to remind him that he had his own assignment due next week. "I hate math."

"Ranma?"

Ranma turned around and stared at his mother. "Are you ok? You look so pensive."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, just thinking about some homework I gotta do."

"Ranma, you're excused from homework for a while."

Ranma's face lit up. "Are you for real?"

Nodoka smiled and nodded, delighted to see the first glimpse of true happiness on her son's face. "Yes."

"Sweet!"

As they approached a full stop, Ranma looked around the street. He did not recognize it as being anywhere near home. Yet, the cab driver got out and helped Nodoka get the wheelchair from the trunk, and then both of them helped Ranma get on the chair. Nodoka paid the cab driver who took off right away after collecting his fee. She turned around, grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, and began pushing Ranma inside the lot.

"Mom, where are we?"

"Home, honey."

"This ain't the Tendos' place."

The house was significantly smaller than the Tendo home, but it seemed very well maintained, and much more elegant. A colored-stone path led to the entrance of the home. There were small trees and bushes on either side of the path. The wooden floor at the entrance seemed almost new, and a carving on the wall read Saotome Home. Nodoka stood in front of the door and knocked several times. Hurried-paced footsteps were heard coming from inside the house, and in a matter of seconds, a tired-looking Genma Saotome stood in front of them.

"Ranma?"

"Hey, Pop!"

Genma stared at his wife as she shook her head to him. He smiled in silent understanding and pulled Ranma inside the house. Ranma scanned the entrance room and realized this was nowhere near the Tendo residence. This small but stylish home did not resemble anything he had ever seen before. There were pictures hanging from the walls, and a nice carpet that ran from the entrance to the end of the hall. There was a small table holding a telephone, and a mirror pinned against the wall on top of it. Ranma could have continued to examine the main entrance room if his father had not asked him a question. "Son, how are you feeling?"

Ranma stared at his father and then at his mother. He gave the room another glance before he answered.

"Very confused; where are we?"

"Home. This is our home; the Saotome home."

"When did we leave the Tendos?"

Nodoka grabbed the handles of the wheelchair as Genma lifted his son on his lap. "Let's take you to your room. You must be exhausted."

Ranma began to lose his patience. "I'm not, but I am something else. Why aren't we at the Tendo home?"

"We didn't want to be a burden any longer. We built our own home and moved here as quickly as possible."

"Built a house? How long was I asleep?"

Genma hurried up and took Ranma to his room. Nodoka followed them silently as her eyes met every single one of the steps on her way up.

Before he could struggle his way out of his father's grip, Genma had laid his son on his bed. He slowly took a step back to allow Ranma to get comfortable, but Ranma grabbed his father's arm. "Just where do ya think you're going, ol' man?"

"What do you mean?"

Ranma stared at his mother, waiting for her to intervene. When she did not, he spoke again. "What's going on? What aren't ya telling me?"

Nodoka could not hold her son's stare, and once again looked at the floor. Ranma switched his glare from his mother to his father. Genma sighed.

"Alright, boy. You want the truth?"

Ranma nodded.

"But, Genma, we can't…"

"Can't or won't" Ranma asked.

"He'll find out, one way or the other."

Nodoka held a sob as she ran outside the room and slammed the door. Genma sat next to Ranma and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Ranma…"

"What?" Ranma's tone was defiant, showing how little he was willing to believe from his father.

"We…we aren't friends with the Tendo anymore."

"What?" Ranma's heart rate increased.

"The reason why you were in this situation, partially impaired, is because of Akane. You guys had an argument that escalated to something it shouldn't have."

"Akane did this to me?"

Genma pushed up his glasses and nodded. "Yes, son. When you ended up in the hospital, Soun and I had an argument. We decided that our dream of joining the schools would never happen and we broke up the engagement. We moved out of the Tendo home as soon as possible, and we haven't spoken to them since."

"What about…I can't…you're lying!"

"Do you think I'll lie about something so serious?"

"You've lied about worse things before!"

"Ranma, control yourself!"

"NO! I…Akane…"

"You have to forget about her. You are engaged to Ukyo. She is your only fiancée now, and she will be here soon."

"W-what? You can't do this to me!"

"I didn't. Akane did."

Ranma growled. If he had the strength in his legs he would have stood up and beat up his father senseless. He could not believe his ears. He had to be lying. He just had to. When Ranma did not say anything else, Genma gave his son a pat on the back before leaving the room.

"Akane…."

Ranma felt his body tremble. The nurse had given him a muscle relaxant. Before he knew it –or wanted it, he was back to dreamland again.

xxxxXXXXXxxxx

Ranma heard the sound of hushed voices near him. He furrowed his brow as he attempted to recognize the voices or understand the conversation. He then realized he was waking up again for the nth time in one day. He wanted nothing more than to put an end to his confusion, finally. Ranma Saotome was not a very good speller, and could not do math very well, but he knew damn well it did not take a genius to know something shady was going on.

He tried to move his body but it still refused to respond as quickly as he wanted it to. He attempted to wiggle his toes but even that was a difficult task. He sighed inwardly and decided to concentrate on the voices outside the room. He knew there was more than what his father had relayed to him before he fell asleep, and he knew that his mother would be the key to finding out what that more was.

"He has an appointment back at the hospital next week. His body is not responding as easily."

"It doesn't surprise me; two years tied to a hospital bed does bad things to your body, even to a martial artist, like him."

Ranma's eyes snapped open. "I've been out of it for two years?"

His heartbeat increased and he began to panic. Two years was an awful long time, and many things could change in this amount of time. What was going on with his life? Why did they move out from the Tendo's? What could Akane possibly have done for his parents to end the engagement? All previous attempts by his additional fiancées and/or Akane's self-proclaimed boyfriends had never really hindered the engagement to the point of no return. This was exactly how he felt; as if he had reached the point of no return. He could not picture what Akane could possibly do to him that would make him want to be away from her. "Or maybe it's she who doesn't want to be with me?"

Maybe he had done something wrong.

"Dammit, what does it take to get some answers 'round here? What is this place?"

He scanned the room he was in. Nodoka had said this was his room, but he did not feel comfortable inside it. The small room had a bed, a window, and a desk. There was a small lamp attached to the desk, and a pile of what he believed was to be schoolbooks. He saw a pair of bi-fold doors that hid a closet, and two doors in opposite sides of the room. The whispers were coming from behind one of the doors, and he saw a light coming underneath this door. He saw it was dark outside through his only window, and assumed he had been asleep for a long time. He did not want to waste any more time. He wanted to go to the Tendo's and find out what had happened between him and Akane. His patience was running out, fast.

His eyes fixated on the door and waited for the conversation to continue. If he was going to find out anything from the voices, he had to remain quiet and fake slumber.

"Does he know…what happened?"

"No. Genma gave him a distorted version of it, but he doesn't know that…"

"I see. Well, I brought some okonomiyaki for him. Think he's hungry?"

"Ranma is always hungry."

Ranma frowned. "That's not true!"

"How much of the tranquilizer was he given at the hospital?"

Ranma held back a growl as his eyes narrowed in anger.

"The nurse said it would only make him pass out for a couple hours. He should be waking up any time soon."

"They drugged me! They fucking drugged me!" He was getting tired of all these decisions being made for him. He needed to get out, now.

"I can play games too," he said to himself as he took deep breaths to calm himself. "They'll regret the day they tried to tell Ranma Saotome what to do with his life."

Whether he meant life as in forcing him to sleep, or keeping him away from Akane, only he knew.

Ranma looked around himself attempting to find anything that he could make a noise with to catch their attention without showing he had been listening. When his search proved unsuccessful, he did the next best thing: he pushed himself off the bed and hit the floor.

"Ouch!"

Thanks to his unresponsive body, his attempt was fruitful. He knew a fall like that would get him some pretty serious bruises tomorrow, but he did not care. Nodoka and Ukyo came rushing in through the door as soon as they heard the body hit the floor. Ukyo was the first one to speak.

"Ran-chan! Are you alright?"

Ranma had not felt so grateful for his muscle atrophy until now. The lack of strength in his body was the perfect aid to pretend he had fallen down through no fault of his own. He pushed himself up and moaned in pain as he forced his head to look back and see his mother and fiancée's worried expressions. "My only fiancée is Akane," he mentally corrected himself.

"Ukyo? What are you doing here?"

Ukyo smiled and helped Ranma to his feet and then to sit on his bed. Ranma held his head with his hand as an added dramatic technique to fake confusion. "I guess I'm still used to sleeping on the floor."

He looked up to face Nodoka and could not help to feel the slightest hint of regret for doing this to his mother. He had wanted her near him for so long, and now that she was here, he was deliberately playing with her feelings. However, when he looked at Ukyo, and was hit with the mental image of walking down the aisle with her, his resolve to find out the truth returned as quickly as it had disappeared when he stared at his mother.

"Are you feeling any better, darling?"
Ranma gave his mother the slightest nod in response before facing Ukyo again. "Uc-chan, what happened to me?"

Ukyo bit her lip as she let go of Ranma and sat on the edge of the bed. She did not have to look at Nodoka to know her face was filled with worry. The truth could not be revealed to him yet. If he knew the truth, they would all face the wrath of an angry Ranma Saotome, especially Genma.

"Ukyo brought some okonomiyaki for you. Are you hungry at all?"

The honest truth was that as tempting a piece of Ukyo's best food was, and the fact that his only meal in hours had been the one provided at the hospital, he did not feel like eating at the moment. However, he needed to have some time alone with Ukyo to get as much information from her as he could. He nodded to his mother who smiled at him before heading downstairs to the kitchen to reheat Ukyo's offering.

When he knew his mother was out of hearing reach, he faced Ukyo again with the most heartbreaking face he could muster to show his pain. He knew he was reaching new levels of low strategies to get his way, but he also knew he should not had to resort to this if people around him had been honest with him in the first place. "I'm so glad you're here, Uc-chan."

Ukyo could not hold back the bright smile that came to her face. She was glad that Ranma had made it and was expected to make a full recovery, but she was not sure how he would react to her being there and not the former fiancée. She could feel a blush creeping up to her as he took her hand in both of his, and flashed one of his most charming smiles.

"I need someone like you, now more than ever. I know you're the only one I can trust."

Ukyo felt she was melting in his hands. Ranma had never been so forward with her, but she did not mind. If he asked her to run away with him at the moment, she would not question herself about it. She would carry him on his back and not stop until they were thousands of miles away from this forsaken place.

"Tell me, Ran-chan, what do you need? I'll do anything!"

"I…I don't know even know. I feel so confused, out of place. What's wrong with me?"

Ukyo's eyes showed how bad she felt for him; there were very few things worse than losing two years of your life without having any saying in the matter. He had passed out for two years and everything he had known to be reality was now gone. When he had been tied to the hospital bed he had been in when he returned, he was a sixteen-year-old kid who had just come back from an exhausting and life-threatening trip to China. Today he was an eighteen year-old young adult whose life had changed without him knowing, literally in the blink of an eye.

"How long was I out?"

"Ranma…I…"

"Ukyo, please! I need to know!"

Ukyo's eyes filled with unshed tears. She knew what was coming and had to try her best to keep the information details to a minimum. She knew he had to be told the truth, but Nodoka had made everyone involved promise to wait until the time was right. She would have not kept this promise if Nodoka had not threatened every single person in that pact with forcing them to commit seppuku. Ranma's mother turned out to be very scary when she wanted to make sure others around her kept their promises.

"Two…years. I'm sorry, Ran-chan."

Ranma's initial reaction when he had heard this fact while pretending to be asleep was repeated for the show he was putting for Ukyo. He growled loudly, and clenched his fists. He looked up at Ukyo, and then at the floor as he took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brows for an added effect. When he opened his eyes, Nodoka was at the door, holding a tray with tea and okonomiyaki.

Nodoka walked inside the room and Ukyo tensed. She prayed that Ranma would not ask his mother to confirm the information he had just been given. She was not afraid for the veracity of the information, as she knew the length of time was true. She was afraid, though, of Nodoka's reaction to providing such shocking information to her son. Nodoka placed the tray on Ranma's lap and asked him if he needed help with his food. Ranma smiled and said Ukyo could be his aid for the night. Nodoka nodded and excused herself before heading back downstairs.

Again, Ranma waited until his mother was out earshot before speaking again. "My body is useless right now. Could you help?"

Ukyo was delighted to be of assistance to Ranma. As she carefully fed Ranma the unwanted treat, she pictured the both of them as husband and wife, having breakfast in bed. Meanwhile, Ranma was planning his next set of questions for the willing Ukyo to answer. He waited a few seconds after he had swallowed the last piece of the meal before he spoke again.

"Thank you, Uc-chan. I had forgotten what your meals taste like. Two years is a long time, eh?"

Ukyo nodded in response as she picked up the tray and gave Ranma the tea to finish washing down dinner. She placed the tray on the only desk in the room before walking back to him and sitting on the edge of the bed again. "What else has remained the same all this time?"

Ukyo forced herself to think of a good response that would both satisfy the question and divert the conversation from where she knew it was heading to. She tapped the side of her mouth with her index finger as she thought of a good answer for him. She hit her closed fist on her open palm as if she had arrived to a life-changing conclusion before she spoke.

"Furinkan High is still there!"

Ranma mentally hit his face with his hand. He pretended her joke had been clever but continued to pry for more. "School always remains, uh? What else is still the same?"

"My restaurant is still open!"

Ranma did not make a comment, inviting her to continue her list. She took a deep breath as she thought of other things that had not changed. When she did not say anything else, Ranma responded to her as a means to encourage her to continue.

"No amount of time will ever change that!"

Ukyo giggled at his comment and tried her best to think of something else. She knew what he was doing, and so far, his plan was working out better than hers. "Dr. Tofu is still a doctor."

"How do you know?"

"He came back from his trip a few months ago."

"That's good to know," he said as he secretly planned a visit to the ever-resourceful doctor. "But isn't that something that has changed?"

"He never stopped being a doctor."

"But if he hadn't come back you wouldn't know about it."

Touché: Ranma 1, Ukyo 0.

Ukyo's eyes said everything; she had been tricked into dangerous territory despite her attempts to avoiding it. She looked behind her, expecting to see a furious Nodoka at the door, and she could not contain her sigh of relief when the door path remained clear of the seppuku inducer.

"I think you've run out of things that stayed the same. How about you tell me things that ain't what they used to be?"

"You…are eighteen years old now…"

Ranma sighed, this time not needing to pretend the pain that came to his chest when he thought about that fact. "I've lost two years of my life; how has Akane held up all this time? Has she forgotten about me?"

"I'm your only fiancée now."

Ranma looked up at his childhood friend. The hope she felt was written all over her face. Hope that he would accept it as undeniable truth. Hope that he would let go of the past. Hope that Akane Tendo would not plague his mind for years to come. He looked down at his hands and felt them cramping again. He flexed his fingers and heard every bone in them pop.

"I guess it's hard to accept the present when you didn't have the time to let go of the past."
Ukyo placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him her most honest smile. She knew what he had meant: it was going to be hard to accept her as a wife if he did not have the time to forget about Akane. Especially since he was not ready –or willing, to let go of his lifeline at all.

"I think I've had enough surprises for one day. I think I need to rest."

Ukyo nodded and stood up, taking the tray with her before she walked out of the room and stood at the door. "You know where to find me," the cook said before she closed the door and left the house.

Ranma took deep breaths and stared at the ceiling. "Why can't I remember what happened?" The martial artist felt his body tremble as an unusual cold summer breeze came inside through the open window. "Where are you, my Akane?"


A/N: It hasn't been a week since I posted the Epilogue, and while three reviews leave me wondering if the story will get readers interested, I figured if I gave them more to read, more interest would show. Thank for you reading and special thank to those who took the time to review. You may know what happened, but, if you have read my stories before, you already know things are not always as they seem.