Kasumi finished drying the last of the plates and putting them away as she thought about the last few weeks. For all intent and purposes, things should have gotten better with Genma arrested and Ranma and Nodoka gone from the house. It hadn't though, and Kasumi missed Ranma who she thought of as a little brother. She hated herself for the way she treated him before he left, but she was tired. She was tired of everything from having to take care of a father who acted more like a child to dealing with all the problems that followed Ranma home. It wasn't his fault though, she knew for the most part that he did his best to keep damages to a minimum other than sparking Akane's anger, but he still ended up taking her for granted just like everyone else.

Okay, Ranma was the person who took Kasumi for granted the least, but he still did at times. Everyone in the household did though as they expected her to do everything in house. She wasn't even twenty years old and yet she was living the life of a mother running everything in the house taking care of people old enough to take care of themselves yet acted as if they were in grade school. She promised her mother that she would take care of the family, she loved them and wanted to take care of them, but when was it going to be her time? When was she going to have a boyfriend? When was she going to be able to go to college? When was she going to be free to forge her own life and make her own family away from here? Hell, when was she going to be allowed to be selfish and have some fun?

"I'm so sorry, Ranma." Kasumi sighed again, wondering if perhaps being stuck here was her punishment for the way she treated Ranma. She wanted so much to find him and apologize for what she did, but she had a feeling that it was too late. She knew that Ranma was under just as much stress as she was and should never have treated him as badly as she did, her problems wasn't an excuse.

"Kasumi, can you wash this for me? I need it for school in the morning?" Akane asked as she came in carrying a basket of clothes making Kasumi's blood boil. It was getting late, after dinner even, and Akane was bringing this down now? Thanks to this Kasumi wouldn't be able to read more of her book before bed as she planned, but instead of voicing her anger she only sighed.

"Of course, Akane." Kasumi said as she took the clothes before Akane turned to leave without even a thank you.

Nabiki looked at her ledger again, she was getting more and more in the red thanks to less people coming to her after finding out that the fathers and her family was the reason Ranma left. She never knew so many people cared so much for the stupid jock...even if he was a lovable lout. If it wasn't for the idiot Kuno, then she would be a lot worse off. She was now dipping into her college fund to keep her mercenary business running because of film and other supplies, but it was the only way to buy the things she wanted and make money for college since the funds for the house was tightly controlled by Kasumi.

It was surprising that so many people got so upset at Akane and herself when they found out about Ranma's exodus from Nerima and the reason behind it. Like Akane, Nabiki would have believed that the students would be happy that Ranma left. There would be no more crazy schemes that required Ranma to use his cursed form to sneak into the girl's locker room or other equally insane plots. Even though the girls didn't like Ranma doing that, they also seemed to realize that Ranma wouldn't really hurt them. In fact since the jock took off Nabiki learned so much more about the idiot that led Nabiki to believe that the so called idiot was anything but an idiot. He helped the drama and music clubs mainly, but also did things helping a couple other clubs. hell they found out the pigtailed youth saved a couple girls from being raped by thugs, saved someone's little brother from being hit by a car when chasing a ball into the street and someone's mother from being robbed and that was just the beginning of the heroic deeds that Ranma supposedly did that endeared him to the student body and people around Nerima. Who knew the idiot was so loved by the general public.

Akane was another problem all together, her attitude growing worse and worse since Ranma left as she began demanding more and more. She was spoiled and the fact that Soun had forbidden any forms of discipline all these years, and even currently, had only hurt Akane more than help the girl. It was beginning to tear the family apart with both the eldest and youngest Tendo living in their own fantasy worlds and Nabiki was beginning to think it would be best to follow Ranma's example and just leave. Maybe take her money she had saved and get an apartment for Kasumi and herself as well as find a real part time job. With her knowledge of book keeping, maybe she could get a job keeping books somewhere...if her reputation doesn't precede her...

"That is...soooo cool!" Dana squealed in excitement as she hugged the slightly damp redhead after the gang all sat and listened to Ranma's unedited life story including the truth about being homeless...well before Barbie took her in.

"How is it cool?" A slightly unbalanced redhead asked.

"I'll field that one sweetie, you are the only person who must understand what the other side feels." Dee Dee said, grinning before continuing. "Hell, you are the only person I know who can choose exactly who and what they want to be."

"I'm a guy." Grumbled Ranma as she stared at the dark skinned woman.

"Who turns into a girl." Derek said shaking his head in wonder. Who knew that magic was real? It was kind creepy yet cool at the same time. Still Ken was his buddy no matter what, nothing would change that. And Diva, she had become like a sister to him despite acting shy all the time. After all Ranma was the youngest member of the group and they had already decided long before learning the truth that they would look out for her and this didn't change a thing...even if it was true that either Ken or Diva...Ranma could wipe the floor with them all at once. "There's no shame in it man, it actually is kind of cool."

"It's not right though." Ranma sighed, "I'm a freak."

"You aren't a freak Ranma." Barbie said taking the redhead's hand and squeezing it, giving the girl a caring smile. "There is nothing wrong with being able to change genders like that. There isn't even anything wrong with being a girl when you are a girl and a guy when you are a guy."

"It isn't manly." Ranma mumbled turning her head a little, but Barbie stopped her and made the redhead look at her.

"Those people in Nerima were wrong." Barbie said softly, "They treated you like property and forced their ideas on you. It wasn't right and we won't do that. We just want you to be happy. Are you happy with us?"

"Y-Yeah...I love being with you guys. I still love practicing the art, but being with you guys...it feels like I finally found where I belong." The redhead said, her eyes misting over a little.

"And we love having you with us, your a part of our family here and we won't give you up." Barbie said hugging the redhead, shortly followed by Dee Dee and Dana and finally after a shrug even Derek joined in.

Sorry it's been awhile since I updated. We had to replace the hard drive and lost everything. I went ahead and wrote this chapter since I didn't need much of my notes and I added some Nerima stuff to show how they are feeling a little and how they are doing. I'll hopefully find all the information from the pages I found on the net back soon or have new ideas to replace some of the things I need to finish. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and if you did please let me know.