Growing Pains

Weight of Responsibility

…from the previous chapter…

"Yes, daddy's got a job!" Ranma grinned widely. "Now, daddy can make sure you have everything you deserve." He grinned at Sakura, and made little silly faces at her for a few moments, before he kissed her on the forehead.

"Now we just have to find a new place to live…"

It had been an interesting week, so far.

Tuesday, the day after he'd gotten the job at Tengu, and after he'd spoken with Kasumi about his good fortune, he'd had another talk with Kasumi and then after leaving Sakura in her more than capable hands, he'd gone to Furinkan High.

It had been Kasumi's suggestions that had propelled him to the school in the first place that morning, specifically to the chief administrator's office, where he spoke with the woman in charge, explaining to her his newfound responsibilities, and his need to be at home for a while in order to address them. She seemed to understand his needs, and informed him that she would send his course work home with the elder Tendo sister, with the understanding that he would need to do more than just 'get by' with the work if he were doing it from home. She also assigned him with a tutor, who, she told him in a tone that brooked no argument, would stop by the Tendo home later in the day for an introduction.

His tutor was a her, by the name of Yoshi Zen; she was infamous around the school, but he didn't know why, and no one would tell him why. Yoshi herself later told him just why she was so well-known around the school—after a brief argument and almost as brief challenge spar with the girl by Akane-

"Is this another one of your hussies?" she'd accused, seeing him with the girl standing in the yard just inside the gate. "I'll send this one running back to her floozy friends!"

-and gave him some 'dirt' on a few of the more popular folks in the school as well, offering to him to 'trade' with Nabiki if he ever needed something.

Each day of the rest of the week had been spent in a combination of time with Sakura, doing his homework, running a few errands for Kasumi in exchange for her watching Sakura—as well as taking her advice about talking to young parents during his travels, to see who they would recommend for watching their children—and then in study with Yoshi. By weeks' end, he'd gained a renewed and strengthened understanding of just what he didn't know, but also by weeks' end the gap between himself and his peers at school had narrowed considerably.

Genma and Soun held relatively quiet against the intensity of Ranma's wrath for the first two or three days, but time and the boy's quiet refusal to wither under his father's glare, coupled with the fact that he was learning—which, Ranma was beginning to truly believe, was beginning to scare his father; the old man had something invested in his remaining uneducated, it seemed—seemed to bring out the audacity in him. Soun, with all the Will of a frightened hamster, rather quickly folded in the face of Genma's insistence that they 'remind the boy of his duties', and the pair found out that the pig-tailed boy's anger—and ability to dish out excruciating amounts of pain—from the previous weekend was a breeze compared to the storm he chose to unleash upon them the second time.

That had led to a rather ugly, nasty argument between the son of Genma and the daughter of Soun, at the end of which the young woman had decided to not only formally dissolve her relationship with the young man, but to completely dismiss the family honor agreement. He'd gone to bed that night, focusing his attentions on taking care of Sakura, and only just kept from dwelling on when the next problem would fall down on his head.

Thursday of that week, in addition to his now daily routine, he added work into the schedule, and was surprised to find Yoshi there as well, sparring with Sensei Detseru; the older man did pause for a while, to introduce him to the class, and to demonstrate that he was capable of giving instruction, and then turned him loose to do so. Yoshi took up audience , watching him, lending more butterflies to his stomach as he first watched the younger students run through their forms, and then as he moved to each one to correct them, or give them pointers. Once he had an idea of just what they were all doing—and by then he'd focused his attentions on the students, so Yoshi was the furthest thought from his mind—he got their attention, and slowly worked through a couple of their basic katas with them. He discovered in that moment that he would likely make a decent instructor—provided he remembered to take his students' instruction slow and steady—and that he could learn to enjoy passing on his knowledge. The night's pleasure was increased when Sensei Detseru came to him, and after an inadvertent slip about his new situation with the Tendos, offered him an advance of a paycheck and a place where he and Sakura could stay.

Friday saw, in addition to his usual routine, Soun and his father imploring-begging-demanding that he apologize to Akane, and beg her to take him back as her fiancé, and at first he'd frowned heavily at the pair, wondering just how idiotic they were; they wanted him to beg Akane to take him back, to beg someone who clearly didn't like him enough to listen to him, let alone trust him, someone who had listened to her father tell him to throw away his honor, to break a promise he had made, to abandon a baby to Fate, and who got mad at him for refusing her father's callous demand? And then he thought about it some more, frowning even more deeply; her father, and his own, wanted him to push aside his responsibilities, his duties, his honor, to cater to Akane, to satisfy her whims, to make her happy? Where was he supposed to be happy in all of this? When were the fathers ever going to ever make her apologize to him?

No, he'd flat out told the demanding pair of fathers, to their momentarily shock, as he'd realized then and there a very important fact; Akane was the princess of the Tendo castle. There was nothing she could do wrong- nothing that anyone in the household would ever call her on. She could—and had!—cause him grievous harm, give him concussions and even amnesia, and later put the blame for her actions fully on his shoulders…and no one would tell her she had been in the wrong, or that she might have misjudged the situation or jumped to a wrong conclusion.

That had led to another fight, a physical one between himself and his father, and then when the sometimes-panda had been laid out by the koi pond, semi-conscious—Ranma had gone light on him that time—Soun had attempted to blackmail him into their demands, by telling him that if he didn't do as he was told, he—and the baby—would be put out of the house that night. He was infuriated at the smug look on Soun's face, knowing that the man was using his concern for Sakura to try to make him do what he wanted. Ranma had turned to an impassive Nabiki, and asked what the charge would be for he and the baby to remain for the night, and after the mercenary-minded Tendo had quoted a price to him, he reached into his wallet and paid her price.

And if perhaps not for the meddling of his father, the issue between himself and Tendo Soun might have resolved itself without any more damage to their honor; but at Genma's insistence the pair of foolish men decided that they had to have yet one more confrontation with him, with Genma stating that the boy would be removed from the clan if he didn't do as he was told, implying that he needed to get rid of Sakura and make nice with Akane. For once, Ranma didn't give in to the way he felt, instead simply offering them a promise of pain if they did anything that woke up the baby, and then gently slammed the door in their faces.

Soun was the one who broke and pleaded with him to remain as a guest of the house the next morning, when the older man witnessed Ranma carrying Sakura down the stairs, his backpack and her necessities bag slung over his shoulders, heading for the front door. Just before breakfast, Soun had nearly convinced him that it would be better to stay, but then Akane had opened her mouth and offered her opinion—which had been no where near complimentary, not a little upsetting, seemingly unconcerned for how he felt, and ended with her thoughts about Sakura, comments which expressed how he needed to get rid of that 'dead hussy's baby'.

He looked around at the table; Kasumi was the only one who seemed less than pleased with Akane's comments, but no one said anything to her about what she'd said.

"Tendo-san," he turned and spoke to Akane, surprising her—and everyone else—with his formality, "I apologize that nothing I could do would ever make you smile. Perhaps taking my unworthy self from your sight would be what might finally please you." His words were conciliatory, but his tone was cold, and perhaps because he was holding Sakura in his arms prevented everyone from feeling the effects of his Soul of Ice technique. He'd gone shortly after that, having touched none of Kasumi's wonderful breakfast, and headed straight for Tengu, where Sensei Detseru directed him to a very small apartment above the dojo.

He spent the rest of that Saturday, and the next day as well, cleaning the apartment—one of three or four, he came to discover, as he again bumped into Yoshi, and at least one other neighbor—as well as studying and trying to think of every way to make the place a home for himself and Sakura. He did speak with Kasumi on both days of that weekend; she made sure to tell him not to tell her where he was, on the thought that at least one of her relatives or houseguests would try to get the information from her (not that they would succeed, he privately thought, but didn't say to her). Just about everyone was in an uproar over his leaving, she told him, even Akane, though Kasumi did express that she felt that the younger Tendo was upset that he wasn't around for her to take her anger out upon.

And that brought him to this day, Monday.

His discussions with other parents in the prefecture had pointed him in the direction of one of the premiere child care centers; one of the problems for him was that the main location—and in fact, the only location—was deeper into Tokyo; it was, in fact, just outside of the main city, just on the edges of Nerima, near to the Nakano and Toshima prefectures. The other problem was one he wouldn't be able to judge until he got there, and that was price; he could only hope that he would be able to afford the price, though with his not having to pay Nabiki for the privilege of breathing—and indeed, not having to pay Sensei Detseru for the privilege of the apartment—he could, at least in theory, devote his pay to taking care of Sakura, which he hoped included paying for her to attend The Emperor's Dragon.

A third problem made itself known to him as he disembarked from his usual method of travel.

He dropped down to a gentle thud in the courtyard of the child care center, and he remained crouched for a few moments, smiling. In a baby carrier strapped to his torso, Sakura was giggling softly- at the unique way of travel, he presumed.

"Did daddy's girl have fun?" he gently cooed to her, as he finally began to stand—and immediately froze at hearing a number of guns being made ready to fire. He risked a quick look up, and saw at least four guns being aimed directly at him, attached to four less-than-pleased looking males. They hesitated slightly as they took notice of him, and then again when they noticed the baby—still giggling—strapped to his chest.

"Uh," Ramna grunted softly, "Am I in the wrong place?"

One of the men with a gun pointed at him reached up to his ear, and spoke softly; the pig-tailed young man heard enough to know that the man was speaking about him, but he couldn't hear what might have been said afterwards. The man nodded to whatever was being said to him, and then called out, "Caution!" Then he took three steps back—as did his fellow weapon wielders—and they lowered- but did not put away- their guns.

Ranma wasn't stupid enough to think that things had been settled just yet- as the men didn't stand down from their protective stance- and he certainly wasn't going to risk any injury to himself or Sakura- who was still giggling- and so he stayed still, just as he was.

It was a few minutes before another two males jogged out of the building, one who seemed to be more of a salaryman than the other, who seemed very much a lieutenant of some sort, judging by the way he carried himself. The 'lieutenant' approached the man who had done the talking, and gently slapped his hand on the others' arm.

"I have heard of the famous Saotome Ranma," the 'lieutenant' spoke, looking at the young man holding Sakura, and then turned to the other males. "I will vouch for his honor." Only then, did the other males lower their weapons completely, and then reholster them.

Ranma breathed a quiet sigh of relief. On a normal day, prepared for a battle, he could have easily mopped the floor with them; ill-prepared, and with Sakura in his arms, he didn't dare to imagine doing anything that would harm her.

"So, Saotome-san," the 'lieutenant' spoke; his voice was quiet and conciliatory, but the aforementioned young man had the distinct impression that this interaction between he and the other male was not nearly as simple as it seemed, "would one be wise to assume that your presence, and that of the child with you, are related to The Emperor's Dragon?"

"Yes," he offered in his most manner-ful tone. "I had heard from many parents that they believed that The Emperor's Dragon would be a very good place to take care of my daughter. I was coming to see if I might find some way to pay for her child care here. I want the best for my daughter I can manage."

"Ahh," the 'lieutenant' grunted softly and nodded. "I can see why it is that you would bring your daughter here, in that case. But I am afraid that today is not a good day for you to have come, Saotome-san. We are here to keep watch over the children of very important people, and we must ask you to leave."

"Isn't there something I can do?" Ranma asked softly. "I mean, may I speak to someone? just for a few moments? just to get some information? I know it's not your concern, but I did travel a little bit to get here."

"Y-y-you must make an appointment," the salaryman-appearing gentleman spoke for the first time.

"Look," the 'lieutenant' cut into the conversation again, "I will ensure that The Emperor's Dragon will provide you with an appointment for you to speak to someone, but—"

The 'lieutenant' and the air were both interrupted by an awful sound of metal booming and screeching, and almost by instinct, fate or design, all adult eyes turned towards the horrific sound.

A car was hurtling towards them; even now as they turned to look, the vehicle was just taking to the air, twisting to place its side panels in the direction of—

the children! Ranma thought immediately, his martial artist's mind unconsciously envisioning the momentum and angle of descent for the vehicle, and just how far into the courtyard—where a number of women were even now themselves only turning to see what was about to happen—were watching over an even larger number of children, none of whom were old enough to comprehend the sudden looks of terror their caregivers were adopting—

and with almost no thought at all, he tensed up to literally leap into action—but for the subtle shifting weight on his chest.

Sakura.

Thoughts, weighing his and her safety verses whether or not he could live with himself if he held her above other children, his own mortality verses doing the right thing, risking his life and leaving her parent-less verses risking his life and saving the lives of others, all flashed through his mind so quickly that the decision was made, his fingers already fumbling for the quick-release connections at the front of his torso, that he was already handing Sakura over to the salaryman-appearing gentleman before he was fully conscious of what he had thought.

"Keep her safe!" he commanded of the man, thrusting her into the surprised male's arms, before he dashed in the direction of the car.

Already it was tumbling, just hitting the ground where it would either bounce back up into the air, or simply barrel-roll along the ground; either way, unfortunately, it would do serious harm. And he couldn't allow that.

He leapt up into the air, infusing ki into his legs for the jump, and then pouring almost everything he had into them to brace for what he was about to do. He had it timed almost to the millisecond in his head; there was no margin for error, and no thought in his head that he would fail. He couldn't fail, couldn't think about failing, couldn't even think; 'Do or do not', he remembered overhearing once somewhere, 'there is no try.'

And do, he did, striking the rolling vehicle just at the leading forward edge, and doing so hard enough to almost fully cancel out its momentum; it teetered on the edge of rolling forward once more, and then instead, rocked backwards, and landed, miraculously, on its wheels. The vehicle was in no shape to be driven, however.

The pig-tailed teen landed almost gracefully on his feet, and had to pull at his reserves of ki to keep standing- not only did his feet and legs hurt, but forcing that much ki to do what he'd done had taxed him; it wasn't every day that he fought to cancel out the momentum of so much moving mass. But he couldn't back down, he couldn't collapse; there was still a great deal at stake.

"Everyone okay?" he spun around quickly, to the wide-eyed, terrified stares of the child caregivers. One woman was of a mind enough to give a timid nod of her head; Ranma glanced downward to see the children smiling at him, still either playing or toddling about. Barely a dozen meters separated where the vehicle had finally come to rest, from where the nearest child played in the sand.

He gave a faint sigh of relief, and then re-shored up his ki to the task at hand. Quickly he moved to the side of the vehicle, and after a quick look, moved to the door most likely to open. The other men were arriving in the near vicinity now as well, with others pouring out of the child care center. Those who were already there were escorting the caregivers, a child in each arm, back towards the center, while another one or two were rushing towards Ranma and the vehicle.

Ranma braced himself, and allowing a bit of ki to infuse with his arms and legs, sharply tugged on the door, pulling it nearly off its hinges, but getting it open. He could clearly see that the occupants needed medical attention, but then one of the big burly guys was there, and he politely but firmly nudged Ranma out of the way.

The aquatransexual young man backed up, and only then did he give thought as to his own daughter. His eyes swept the landscape, spotting the salaryman-appearing gentleman to be holding Sakura, still close to the spot where he'd left them. Exhaling with incredible relief, he quickly strode over to the pair and retrieved his child from the man's arms. Only then, once he was holding her again, and a nearby bench seemed to be ready to accept him, did he allow himself to collapse, sitting down harshly. He held onto Sakura tightly, his thoughts racing, imagining her having been in the place of another child, and no one like him to save her. He held her close, and for the first time in his life as a male, sobbed freely, and without restraint.

Omake- sort of…*

"Is this another one of your hussies?" Akane snarled at Ranma, seeing him with Yoshi standing in the yard just inside the gate. "I'll send this one running back to her floozy friends!"

"It's not like that!" he whirled around to see the youngest Tendo stalking up to him. "She's just—"

"Just another fiancée you picked up and brought to my house to wreck havoc! I've had it, Ranma Saotome! And you!" At this, the turned on Yoshi, who regarded the Tendo girl with a slightly bored, slightly curious expression, one eyebrow raised, "I challenge you to a fight?"

"Oh, really?" Yoshi pursed her lips, took an unconscious step back, and put her hands on her hips.

"You don't even know if she can fight!" Ranma shot back at her.

"I got this, Saotome," Yoshi cut in before either he or Akane could comment again. "So you wanna fight, little girl?" she grinned, almost purring.

"Bring it!" Akanae growled, stepping back into a ready stance.

Yoshi grinned softly, almost mischievously. "I'll lick you good, girl," she laughed quietly, "And then maybe you'll return the favor."

"Oh, you bet I wi—wait, what?" She halted, shifting gears; that wasn't something she was expecting to hear, and it didn't quite make sense.

"I said, I'll lick you good, girl," Yoshi repeated. "I love a good, intense, rousing fight; it gets me allllll hot and bothered," she continued to practically purr, "And you're a lot more my type than Mr. Muscles here; I'm just here to tutor him." She slinked closer to the martial-artist wannabe. "So maybe we can get a little hot and sweaty, then wash each other off before we go and get some hands-on study of one another's anatomy?"

Akane recoiled slightly, before her eyes glazed over; she then promptly fainted, blood gushing in a fountain from her nose.

*This is an omake, "sort of", because yes, that really is the reason why Yoshi is so infamous at school; she bats for the "wrong" team.

Author's Note: Honestly? I've had this chapter, and the very next one to follow, completed for probably about two months. But you know of my penchant for having the next chapter done, and until a day or so ago, I haven't finished the eighth chapter, so I couldn't post this one and the next one- and the next one was so...right, that it virtually wrote itself within days of my finishing this chapter- and because folks have wanted to see Ryoga finally get some measure of justice for his actions, I couldn't post this chapter, and then wait. You'll see- and I hope you'll appreciate what the Lost Boy finally gets as he deserves. There may be an interlude to further detail his punishment, but I figured this was at least a good start in that direction, next chapter.

No real speculation in a while- I suppose that happens when i don't update enough! Hopefully, these two chapters will produce quite a bit of speculation!