AN: Hi, I'm not dead. My computer died though and the problems cascaded and after over a year I got it back and then a virus attacked and I was set back again. Here's the next chapter, there will likely be one more. Thank you to all of you who are still reading.
The fire near the tent was down to embers. Ukyou and Ryouga were bedding down for the night after a small meal which they prepared together. Ukyou sighed when she glanced at Ryouga's beet red face laying beside her in the tent.
"Ryouga...," she sighed, "never mind, Goodnight."
"Oh, uh, G-goodnight Ukyou." Ryouga stuttered.
Mu tsu found himself unable to sleep in his closet. He would go out to look at the stars and clear his head, but Kul on locks him in his closet at night. He can't even go to the bathroom until she lets him out! Annoying old bat, he thought. His thoughts kept inevitably drifting to Xian pu though. He wondered at the possibility of her choosing him, but refused to let himself hope, plus the knowledge that doing so may cause harm to his love put a damper on any good thoughts that might have brought. He never wished such a thing on his beloved. He almost wished he would have stopped her before the kiss, then she wouldn't have to make such a choice, she wouldn't be getting hurt.
Kul on sat in her room, her heart heavy. She did not yet know what, but something happened to cause a dip in the energies in Nerima. She could feel that big changes were happening and that she and her charges were taking part of some of them. Especially Xian pu, a big decision lay on her shoulders this night. She worried that Xian pu might choose to leave the tribe. It was a possibility that she would as others have after seeing the world outside the tribe and there was the fact that Xian pu had brought the option up herself. Mu tsu would likely follow her if she did. Kul on decided she would still keep faith that her great granddaughter would choose to stay with the tribe and her. If by chance she doesn't though, Kul on doesn't think it would be entirely bad, after all she did want her to experience the world outside their isolated life, to learn and understand the world as it is outside their normally sheltered existence. Kul on shook her head and decided to entertain herself with thoughts of more grandchildren instead, that was always a happier thought to go to bed with.
"Choose well my child." Kul on whispered into the air before going to bed.
Xian pu sat at her window staring out at the darkened sky. She found herself remembering how Mu tsu looked earlier that day and how it made her feel. She tried to remember if she had ever felt that way about Ranma. Sure she had given the appearance of wanting to bed Ranma, there's no question that he's very attractive, but truthfully the idea had always made her nervous and a little frightened. She would never admit so though. Mu tsu however, she wasn't afraid, with him it might be okay. Xian pu sighed as she realized she just had her answer. A relationship was more than that tho, she trusted Mu tsu, but not Ranma, she dominated Mu tsu but would likely never be able to dominate Ranma, Mu tsu loved her and Ranma... Ranma only likes her... and not always, and she cared for Mu tsu, he's her childhood friend after all, but she could not say she had any feelings for Ranma beyond what those other girls had of hot celebrities and popular high school boys, but none of that is anything serious. Xian pu needed to be serious now, the time for playing was over. Ranma would not be her prize and Mu tsu would be good to her. So it really came down to two choices, accept punishment for losing husband or leave tribe. Xian pu sighed, she didn't think she ever had to make such a difficult decision in all her life. For a brief moment Xian pu found herself longing for the playful days. Being an adult is very hard and necessary.
The phone rang in the Tendo home. No one had been deep enough asleep to not be awoken by it. Nabiki refused to leave her bed knowing there couldn't be any good reason why the phone would ring in the middle of the night with three people in the hospital. In Akane's room Akane was staring at the door and then turned when Ranma stirred and they stared at each other a moment. Ranma stood and began heading to the door, slowly. Akane sat up in bed unsure what to do. She watched Ranma reach her door and heard the phone stop ringing. Ranma looked back at her and then opened her door. Akane stood and hurried after him as he stepped out her door.
Kasumi was the one to ultimately answer the phone. She was assured her father would be okay and tried to hope for the best. She swallowed before answering the phone, bracing herself.
"Hello, Tendo residence." she spoke clearly but with a touch of sleep and anxiety.
There was some sniffling a couple quiet sobs as the person on the other end tried to get themselves under control long enough to speak.
"Kasumi, could you...Ranma, please." she managed.
"Yes auntie." Kasumi understood and turned to see Ranma descending the stairs and Akane shortly behind.
"Ranma..." she held out the phone towards him.
He slowly walked towards the phone as his stomach filled with dread. Akane came down the stairs the rest of the way and stood a few feet from Ranma. Kasumi looked at Ranma, her eyes fully of sympathy.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Ranma..." Nodoka started to sob again.
"Mom? What is it?" Ranma spoke, becoming more alarmed at how his mother sounded.
"Your father, he...he... he didn't... didn't make it." Nodoka struggled to say before bursting into tears once more at the end.
Ranma slowly fell to his knees, his face wide eyed and blank. His stomach plummeted and he suddenly felt numb.
"Ranma!" Akane gasped before kneeling beside him.
Kasumi held her had over her mouth, she could guess what the news was. She fought not to cry, but held herself together. She immediately thought of father and worried if he had heard yet.
"Oyaji..." Ranma mumbled and tears ran down his cheeks without his notice.
He felt empty inside, his stomach ice, images of his pops running through his head.
"Oh, Ranma," Akane cried and wrapped her arms around him, holding him. He almost felt cold and he was unresponsive so she held him even tighter.
He could feel Akane's warmth and her own tears dampening his shirt. He blinked and dropped the phone, wrapping his arms around her in return. Kasumi jumped for it as he did so.
"H-hello? Auntie?" Kasumi tried.
She could hear crying on the other end of the phone and then someone answered.
"Hello? I'm sorry, Mrs. Soatome is unable to return to the phone. This is Dr. Tofu." the voice on the other end spoke.
Kasumi's heart skipped involuntarily before she mentally scolded herself and spoke again.
"Doctor, is Saotome..." Kasumi was unable to finish.
"...Yes, I'm afraid so." Tofu spoke hesitantly.
"Oh, please Doctor, does my father know?" Kasumi asked a touch desperately knowing that this would very possibly break her father.
"No, not yet. He is sleeping. I would like him to get a full nights rest before having to deal with this." Tofu responded calmly, doctorly.
"I will tell him then, someone needs to be there when he finds out. I don't know if..." Kasumi drifted off, thoughts off how he had been when their mother had died. She was determined to do whatever she could to keep that from happening again. She didn't know if he'd ever come back if it happened again.
"I see. I will see to it that he isn't informed before then. Now, how is Ranma?" he asked with concern.
Kasumi was quiet for a moment as she watched her sister and Ranma embracing and watched in relief as Ranma's face finally changed from the blank look to one of anguish and he clutched at Akane as he sobbed openly.
"I don't know, I think he'll be alright though." Kasumi relied into the phone.
"I see. I hope so. I need to help Mrs. Saotome now. I'll see you tomorrow then." Tofu replied an edge to his voice as he watched Mrs. Saotome slice her sword through the reception desk in a fit of frustration before falling to her knees.
"Yes, I'll be there. Good luck." Kasumi responded before hanging up, having heard the ruckus through the phone.
Tofu walked over to Mrs. Saotome and knelt down beside her. He placed his arms around her and she clutched at him as she sobbed. He continued to comfort her until she cried herself out. She was led to a room and given a light sedative to help her sleep.
Ranma sprung up out of Akane's arms suddenly. He was breathing hard, and his hands clenched into fists. He ran out of the house towards the dojo.
"Oh my," Kasumi
Akane stood quickly from where she had been thrown back when Ranma stood abruptly and ran after him. She found him furiously doing katas and breaking bricks, attacking training dummies viciously, punching the ground. He just kept going, tears still stubbornly running down his cheeks and it wasn't long before a verbal tirade began spewing from Ranma's mouth.
"Stupid pops,"
"Why did you have ta,"
"Stupid bastard of an old man,"
"Sorry excuse for a father,"
"Fuck"
"What did ya think you were doin?"
Akane stood and watched him until his verbal attack sputtered out. She continued to stand there until he winded down to a halfhearted punch to a training dummy. He just stood there then, his tears having ceased sometime after the verbal attack began. He looked rather listless with an indistinguishable look on his face. Akane nervously stepped forward. After she got a couple steps he looked right at her. She hesitated in her steps for a minute before continuing. He started to speak again, this time directed at her.
"I just, he's a martial artist, how can... how can a simple car accident, he's been through so much worse ya know. It... it doesn't make sense."
"Ranma," Akane began.
"Agh, what am I doing?! He was a horrible pops and not a very good person. Why should I-" Ranma caught himself in a sudden sob, "Damn it. I didn't think I gave a damn about pops, so why the fuck did I cry so much?!"
"Ranma, he's your father, he's all you've ever known, all you had, for all those years. It's normal to feel, to feel the way you do." Akane swallowed, trying not to cry herself.
"I don't need to be crying like a baby. I need to be strong for mom and be a fucking adult. I have responsibilities I need to attend to. I need to help with the funeral and stuff and figure out what's going on with the family finances to make sure mom's okay. Oh, man, what if pop's debts end up being transferred to me? Ugh!" Ranma ranted.
Akane didn't know what she could say, he almost seemed to be talking to himself. She never expected him to respond this way either. She didn't know how he might respond to losing his father , but she always felt he cared for his father more than he knew or admitted to. She gently wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head on his chest.
Ranma blinked and looked down at the girl in his arms. He brought one hand to hold the back of her head. He bent and kissed the top of her head and she held him tighter.
"Akane..." he mumbled in awe.
Kasumi entered the kitchen and began to prepare a light breakfast for later. Nabiki had finally ventured down and peeked at her sister in the kitchen.
"Oh, Nabiki. Were you awakened by the phone too?" Kasumi asked quietly.
"Yeah, not really sleeping." Nabiki answered.
"Yeah..." Kasumi sighed.
"So... what was it?" Nabiki asked, unsure if she wanted to know. It was almost funny if you thought about it, Nabiki not wanting to know something.
"Oh, it's terrible. Ranma's father passed away." Kasumi said still concentrating on the meal.
Nabiki was quiet at this revelation. She was momentarily relieved that it wasn't about Tate, but then mentally scolded herself. She wondered how the great martial artist was taking it.
"Where is Ranma?" Nabiki asked.
"He went to the dojo." Kasumi responded, still looking at what she was doing.
Well, that sounds like typical Ranma, Nabiki thought. She turned around and headed back to her room. She was exhausted and it was far too early to be awake. She took one of the pills the doctor gave her for sleep and lay down, drifting off quickly after.
By the time the first rays of light hit Nerima, decisions had been made at the Nekohanten, the Tendo Dojo was quiet with Ranma and Akane asleep in each other's arms against a wall in the dojo and Nabiki in a medicated sleep in her room and a lonely breakfast laying on the kitchen table it's creator already far from the house. Elsewhere two people in a tent just outside Nerima, though as of yet that is unbeknownst to the two, have wrapped themselves around each other in their sleep.
By the time the first drop of rain fell and the clouds darkly obscured any light all of Nerima was awake.
