Misery Loves Company

by Ryan Erik

Twenty years after Ranma Saotome vanished into the night after his bachelor party, Nerima has moved on without him. The common struggles that his friends endured brought them together as family, as the chaos Ranma embodied no longer caused endless conflict. Now, after every last person gave up hope of his return, a familiar looking redhaired girl steps off a plane into their lives.

11. Part Three: Sayonara (4 of 8)

Misery Loves Company
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
by Ryan Erik

Part Three: Sayonara
(4 of 8)

Kenichi's cheeks reddened a bit when she released his hand. He bowed his head, staring down for a second. She ignored the crowd around her, staring at his face. It still amazed her how much he reminded her of Akane. For a second time, she mistook the boy for her former fiancée. Given the fact she had been dazed during that moment, she wondered what could cause her to see him as the woman she had lost to the sands of time.

Kimiko took a deep breath, reclining her head. The sun warmed her cheeks as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the light. She exhaled and looked back at Kenichi who held her pumps in his hand.

"Do you want your shoes?" he asked her.

Kimiko shook her head. She would be better off without the balancing act today. She still felt a bit dizzy from striking her head on the brick wall.

"I'm better off barefoot at the moment," she replied, looking forward. The street seemed less crowded than it had before. "Let's go to your Aunt's house."

Her young friend led the way, taking a right at the intersection. He had a vigor in his step that made Kimiko think. His image blurred a moment, so she rubbed her eyes, realizing nothing around him seemed as fuzzy as he did. Something about him made her feel not quite herself, though she imagined he felt the same way, but for different reasons.

The walk calmed her as the pleasant sensation of warmth from the sun-heated concrete traveled up her legs. Her mind focused on Kenichi as she watched him walk ahead of her, trying to figure him out. He did not act like the usual boys who fancied her, but she knew that he at least had some not-quite-so platonic feelings for her. The kiss they had inadvertently shared in the koi pond proved that much. She still regretted that, though it did not bother her as much now.

She did not want him to get the wrong message of her intentions for him, but at the same time, she did not know what those were. Conflicted at the center of her heart, Kimiko hated to admit she felt something more than friendship. It was not love, she knew, nor attraction. Could his likeness to Akane be giving her this feeling? After all, Kimiko still loved the woman fiercely, though that feeling had changed to one of concern.

With a sigh, Kimiko shook her head, a bit downcast. What were her intentions towards him? She found her own feelings a mystery to herself. Ever since she had arrived here, mistaking him for Akane, something had been developing between them. She remembered the first night they shared together no matter how brief, under the stars as she waited for her taxi. That beautiful night she spent thinking of Akane, while her son warmed her body with his presence.

Get a hold of yourself! she thought fiercely. How could she think about him as if that dream she had of him could possibly come true? She had a date with Jusenkyo that would reverse this curse over her, returning her to her proper form, though something in her mind nagged her. What if she could not become male again? What then?

Maybe she should have a sincere conversation with him and clear some things up, like his feelings for her. Even more importantly, she had to crystallize her feelings for him.

Kenichi held his bike on the left of himself, as she did, so she walked around the bike she led and stepped up her pace. After a moment, she walked beside him. She caught his glance, and his smile. Her heart skipped a beat and she swallowed in preparation. She wondered how direct she should be.

"Something on your mind?" he asked, his face less serious than it had been before. His thoughts must have been on his sister's condition. Kimiko hoped the girl would be fine. Mayako seemed to have taken a beating, but if she had a fraction of Akane's resilience, Kimiko knew she would okay.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Kimiko returned, biting her lower lip after she said it. "I was thinking about the last few days I've spent here with you—and your family." She added the last part quickly, her nerve fading a bit.

"Very interesting times, huh?" he said grimly. "I'm really sorry about all the fighting. Between Rintaro and those bastards in the alley, I'm surprised we haven't all been to the hospital."

You would be surprised, she thought, remembering her less-than-cheery meeting with Ryouga and the day she had spent in a hospital bed.

Straying from that line of thought, she pushed their conversation further. "It's not your fault, Kenichi. Trouble finds me wherever I go." She paused a moment, looking over at him, her heart beating quicker. It felt like someone was holding her jaw shut as she quietly spoke. "But that's not what I meant."

They stopped at a crosswalk. Kenichi put one arm up in the air to stretch. "What did you mean, then?"

Kimiko almost wished he had not heard her, but gritted her teeth. Why should she bring it up? It was not like she would see him again for a long time, if ever. As they started to cross the street, she realized she probably would not be able to tell him anyway.

"Nothing, forget I said it."

As they stepped over the curb and walked down the sidewalk further, Kenichi brought the subject up anyway. "You can't keep me in suspense like this!" She watched him grab his chest and cough with exaggerated motions. He added after a moment, more seriously this time, "You can tell me."

With a deep breath, Kimiko mentally prepared herself. She exhaled slowly, looking away. "Well, what I meant was...was that I've been thinking...about..." As her face grew warm, she felt her jaw clench as she tried to mouth the word, but Kenichi finished it for her.

"About...us?"

The moment he said that, a lump formed in the pit of her stomach, as she felt her face flush. She figured that she probably looked like a lobster right about now, and Kenichi's warm brown eyes did not help matters. A glance at his face showed he did not look embarrassed at all. Rather, Kenichi smiled at her.

"Do you want to stop somewhere and talk about this?" he asked her, looking about the area they were in.

"Let's just keep walking," Kimiko said, regaining a bit of her spine. Just suck it up and say it, she commanded herself.

"If it's about agreeing to just be friends," Kenichi began, his voice seemingly calm in the face of the subject matter. Kimiko wondered how much of it was him putting on a happy face to make her feel better. "You don't have to worry. I know you want to take your time. So don't sweat it, okay?" A bit of irritation did surface in his voice, though he hid it well.

"Why do you like me anyway?" Kimiko said, a bit exasperated. He had taken the wind out of her with the last remark, making her wonder just how much she had hurt him by rejecting his feelings for her.

They quietly walked for a few moments before Kenichi replied to her question. Kimiko felt her face growing warmer as he looked into her eyes, an expression of deep thought on his face.

"Believe it or not, Kimiko Nishiyama, you are a very intriguing person."

"How so?" she replied, her brows furrowing. Intriguing could mean too many things for her comfort. She had wondered what he saw in her, because she doubted she would see it in herself.

"You show up one day out of the blue and beat the best martial artist our age," Kenichi started, looking forward down the street. There were no longer any other pedestrians about. Sidewalks had already disappeared as they'd entered a very residential area of this ward.

"And yet you seem so fragile for such a strong person."

Kimiko frowned and turned away as he said the last, but she let him continue without interruption.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," he apologized. She turned back to face him again. "But when you sat down with us at Ucchan's the first day, you seemed so hurt that I couldn't help but wonder, you know? And then you proved yourself to be such a powerful martial artist, despite your appearance. I mean, I saw the black belt in your suitcase when it fell out, but I never imagined how strong you could be. There just aren't that many who can stand up to some of the people around here.

"Don't look at me like that," Kenichi said with a chuckle.

"Like what?" Kimiko asked, perplexed. She had just been listening.

"You're making cute faces at me," he replied, still giggly. "If I had a mirror, I'd show you."

"Cute faces," Kimiko muttered. "Okay, so I'm a yin-yang. What's so special about that?"

"Hey, everyone has to balance out somehow," Kenichi returned. "Believe it or not, lots of people have a soft side, even that hard-ass, Rintaro. Most people don't show it to complete strangers, though...not that it's a bad thing that you did!" He added the last part after a moment. He seemed to be walking over eggshells the whole time he talked to her.

"Anyway, all of that is why I like you," Kenichi finished.

"Hah, I was expecting you to talk about my eyes while staring at my chest," Kimiko remarked, lightening up a bit. His admission affected her. Even though she hated showing weakness, he actually seemed to admire it beyond all reason.

"Well, your baby blues are gorgeous, too," he snickered, putting his free hand on her shoulder. "I'd rather not stare at your chest and test just how much butt-kicking you have left in you." They shared a laugh at that, but the mood quickly changed.

As his hand fell from her shoulder, Kenichi's attitude sobered after a moment, signaling his intention to dive back into deeper water. "I want to apologize for kissing you in the koi pond the other day."

"Don't," she told him. The thought grounded Kimiko, making her seriously consider the situation again. He really had nothing to apologize for, because she was at fault for that incident. "You have nothing to apologize for. The cold water got to my head, okay?"

"Then I'm sorry for enjoying it so much," he said quietly, his eyes a bit distant as he looked away from her. She could see a bit of the hurt bubble up again.

"If I hadn't of led you on like I did, we wouldn't even be having this conversation." She watched his face carefully after saying the words, hoping to gauge his reaction. She felt as if they had walked further and further onto dangerous ground. Her heart felt like it would explode, it was beating so hard.

"I just really thought," he began but shook his head. "No, forget about it." He kicked a rock on the sidewalk, sending it shooting down the street.

"Hey, now who's the person leaving the other in suspense?" Kimiko quipped, a smile forming on her lips. "Mentioning things and then leaving me dirt dry."

"No really, it's okay. I can tell you don't want to talk about this." He had not returned her look for a few moments now, as if he was trying to avoid her eyes. He wanted to tell her, she could see, but he did not want to press her.

"I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place, if I didn't want to talk about it. So tell me what you thought."

"All right," Kenichi said after a moment, finally turning back to face her, his eyes still downcast. "I just thought that there was something there. Between us, I mean. You really surprised me when you said you don't feel the same way. I kind of understand why you said you wanted to be just friends, but I had thought we both felt some kind of spark. You know, chemistry or whatever. It's just really frustrating trying to figure out what's going on, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. It's really not that I didn't feel anything," Kimiko whispered, her voice gaining volume with each word. "I just don't want you to get attached to me or anything. I'm leaving the country in a few days, and I don't even know if I'm ever going to come back!"

Kenichi's eyes grew wide before he replied. He must have been breathing hard, for his chest expanded and fell quickly. She must have stung him, for his eyes looked a bit watery. Wiping away whatever was there with his sleeve, Kenichi asked, "I guess that would be a bit of a problem, but is it because you don't want to come back?"

"I don't think I can come back," she said, trying very hard not to turn away from him. It hurt her watching the pain in his face. How could she do this to someone as dear as the child of Akane and the nicest young man she had ever met? It felt like plunging a knife into her own heart.

"It's something from your past, isn't it?" he asked, the pain in his eyes still showing, but much less. He moved closer to her as they walked, until their shoulders touched.

"I don't think my heart is ready for this," she said, the feeling of him so close to her that she winced. "I told myself to get over it, but every time I think I'm okay, it comes back at me in full force."

Kenichi stopped, gently linking his arm with hers. She stopped, looking back at him as he stood there, anger distorting his face. Thinking it directed towards her, she pulled away from him, but he caught her wrist as his hand slid down her arm.

"I knew it," he said, his eyes softening as he pulled her closer. Their bikes and the shopping bag fell to the ground as she stared at him almost panicking. "Someone hurt you. Someone hurt you so bad. I have felt it since we first met and I can't stand it. How could anyone do something to you? You're one of the kindest, sweetest persons I've ever met."

She almost gasped as he took both of her hands in his. They stood together with scant inches between them. "I...I..." she stuttered, unable to pull away, or unwilling. Feeling so overwhelmed, she could not even figure out her own emotions anymore.

"I could never hurt you, Kimiko-chan," he told her fiercely, meeting her stare with such emotion.

Blinking back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes, she looked away. "I know you wouldn't, Kenichi-kun. I never thought in a million years that you would. That's not what I meant at all. I'm afraid of hurting you!"

She met his bewildered eyes with all the compassion she could muster. Her heart ached almost as it had when she first realized that she had lost Akane, after recognizing the sudden truth that all of this would vanish in a matter of days, if not hours. She knew that if she regained her male body that she could never return. If she could not cure herself of the Jusenkyo curse, could she even consider returning anyway? What if it meant losing herself so fully to the curse that she fell in love with Kenichi?

"Hurt me?" he whispered, not able to comprehend her words.

She knew that falling in love with him would be inevitable if she came back. His soft manner, so very like Akane, showed through more than Akane's had. The anger she had harbored for so many years took so much time for Ranma to whittle away at, but Kenichi already at sat on the stage Akane had when they finally decided to get married.

"How could you hurt me?"

She did not want to hurt him as she had Akane. Her life left little room for making engagements with people anchored in one place. Fate seemed destined to carry her away in a fiery chariot anytime something good remained in her life. Kenichi intrigued her just as much as she must have for him. Unlike Akane, he seemed so ready to open himself up to her. She looked into his warm, brown eyes, which no longer seemed to belong to Akane at all.

Kenichi was worth all the unconditional love that anyone could offer him on his own merits. She could never slight him with her poor alternative for the love he deserved.

"When I leave, I won't come back," she whispered to him, his warmth seeming to surround her. She felt a tear slip through her defenses and down her cheek, but quickly wiped it up. Blinking away more before she turned into a sobbing mess, Kimiko gritted her teeth. She had to be strong, and she could not lie to him. "I couldn't do that to anyone here. I'd hate myself for that."

She tried to pull away, to flee, but he only pulled her closer. He held shoulders firmly, not letting her escape as she wanted to. She did not try hard, deeply wanting it all against everything. In another moment, he held her gently in his arms as she tightly wrapped hers around his waist, her head against his chest. Held as closely as she was, she never wanted to move.

"I know I don't understand what you're going through," he began, his eyes looking down at hers. "But whatever it is, I'll always welcome you no matter what happens. I swear it."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what I can't tell you," she refuted, angry with herself more than him.

"If your leaving is so painful that you couldn't come back, why don't you just stay here?" he suggested, his eyes too serious for his own good.

"I wish I could," she said, fearing that she would cave in and agree. "But I can't. My trip to China isn't a vacation. It's a journey that I have to take if I ever want to feel peace in my life. I can't explain it any better than that."

"Then take me with you."

The intensity in his voice caught her off-guard and she pulled back slightly. She stared up at his face with a mixture of shock and fear. He seemed determined to not let go. Why did he have to make this so hard for her? "What?"

"To China. I could go with you."

Confused she looked down. He had offered to go with her. Almost stunned by the proposition, she hoped he was joking. "Don't kid like that, Kenichi-kun. It's not funny."

"I'm serious. I have a little money saved up, and I won't be missing any school since it's summer."

And he was serious. Suddenly the vision she'd had of them together flashed before her eyes. Could she allow that to happen? Was that an omen of the future? Was she supposed to make some kind of choice? The entire thing scared her. She knew she had to try to scare him away, but lying to him would be out of the question. Another guilty lie would be too much.

"I couldn't ask you to go with me," she told him softly.

"I'm the one that asked," he whispered in response, rubbing her arms. "I promise I won't be a bother to you. I need a real vacation anyway."

"What about your job?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged at that, releasing her arms. "That's really not an obstacle anymore."

"What do you mean?" she wondered, furrowing her brows with confusion.

"I was fired when I left to help you," he replied, his head bowed.

"What?" Kimiko said, her eyes opening wide. Because of her, he'd even lost his job! The very thought tore at her. She could not even visit people without ruining their lives. "I'm sorry, Kenichi. I had no idea you'd lose your job over this."

He shook his head. "Hey, I'm the one who chose to leave. No one put a knife to my throat or anything." He broke into a wry smile, if a bit forced. "Don't worry about it. It's not like it was a good job or anything." His smile faded as he began to frown. "Not that you owe me anything, but I'd much rather go with you to China than make a few extra yen and slave over a fruit store. I mean, if your brother is okay with it, and everything."

"It's none of his business," Kimiko told him, wondering if she could even think about letting him come with her. If she ever did manage to transform herself back, she would betray him worse than he could ever imagine. "But I don't know about this. Let me think about it, okay?"

He nodded, his always-ready smile back on his face, making her feel a little better. It had to be for show, though, because he seemed about as happy as a turtle rolled on its back. "Sure thing. There's no pressure or anything, even if you decide against me coming. It's just a stupid idea, after all."

"It's not that stupid," she whispered, trying to make him feel better. If only Kiyoshi had never told her that Jusenkyo had recovered, then she could consider staying here without the voice in the back of her head demanding upon her honor that she go back to that wretched training ground. She would not have to hurt him anymore either.

"You think?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, it would be a little weird having you along," she told him, Jusenkyo appearing in her mind. "But it's not a stupid idea."

Kimiko looked around the nearly empty neighborhood as if people stared from the nearby houses at her. He seemed to take notice of this as a sign she wanted to move on, which of course, she did.

"We're only a few blocks away from Aunt Kasumi's house now," he informed her, collecting the shopping bags and the bike. Kimiko lifted the bike she had been walking and set it on its tires. He weakly smiled at her.

"Give me some time to think about this," she quietly said.

"Every moment between now and when you leave."

---

Two things weighed down Rintaro on his flight from the scene of the crime. The weight of Mayako's body on his lap made the ride more difficult than he'd first imagined. He made balancing her possible by positioning her seated in his lap, her unhurt left arm around his waist, while sitting on her hand as lightly as he could to keep it from falling. He cradled her with his right arm, encircled around her to keep her right arm from moving. Her breath tickled his cheek as he leaned slightly so that she lay against his chest, her head on his shoulder. With incredible effort on his part, he still managed to steer the bike with his left hand.

Unlike her physical weight, the other thing that weighed him down did not affect the ride. Instead, his heart tried to balance the guilt of letting his friends down yet again. Before, the consequences had not been so strong. The constant smell of blood and sweat in Mayako's hair drove the feeling deeper within him so that he could barely tolerate it. Unlike her physical weight, this he could not balance alone. He'd never considered his conscience much of a friend before, and he supposed it did not make much of an ally when he tried to shut down all roads to his heart. His conscience held the only key to the closed gates.

Rintaro remembered the scene outside the clothing store, frowning. How could he have been so stupid as to think that Jotaro would not take advantage of him? Rintaro had walked over to sit down on one of the benches nearby the store. It only took a few moments for Jotaro to sit down next to him. His manner betrayed him. His old enemy Jotaro had been nervous.

"We need to talk, Saotome," Jotaro had told him, his eyes a bit shiftier than usual.

"So talk, Saito," he had replied coolly, though Rintaro had wanted to smash the brute's face until it caved in for good measure. The thought was fleeting, though.

"I have a score to settle with this redhead of yours." The words still burned in his ears. Rintaro had known Jotaro was going to play him, but he had listened anyway.

"So why should I care?" he'd replied, giving an air of indifference, pushing his hand through his bangs, affording him a scan of the area. A spiky bleached blond head had caught his attention momentarily before he looked back at Jotaro.

"Isn't she some kind of friend of yours?" the dark-eyed boy had asked.

"Not really," Rintaro had replied. "She's Kenichi Tendou's, though, so I wouldn't play too hard. You know who his friends are."

"So, then, you won't mind if we rough her up a bit?" Jotaro had said with a smirk on his face. The look had doubled Rintaro's urge to smash the boy's face. One thing had kept him in check, though.

"Like I said, Saito, play at your own risk."

"How about Mayako?"

"You touch her, and I will personally deliver your spleen to your grandparents." It had been half threat and half bluff. He might not have ripped out his spleen, but hair ripped from his skull might have suited.

"Come on, now," Jotaro had smoothly said, playing whatever hand he thought he held. "Seiko wants a piece of her, one on one. She has a legitimate beef with your woman. You wouldn't want Mayako to know certain things about you that you've kept from her."

Two inches separated Jotaro from his death had he spoke a word more. His eyes had contained a cool confidence that Rintaro would have made sure did not last long.

"Your lease on life would be over, should your lips spill that which you shouldn't know," Rintaro had stated simply, meaning it implicitly. "Not many would bat their eyes over your missing persons report."

"Don't be like that, Saotome," Jotaro said, a crack forming in his armor of coolness in the form of big droplet of sweat sliding down his forehead. "We both know I'm not going to say a word, because Seiko is going to have the duel she wanted. And you won't interfere in either fight. Neither girl will be hurt too bad."

And so that had been that. With his lips sealed and his hands tied behind his back, Rintaro had watched Kimiko beat the living daylights out of Jotaro and his blond friend. Unfortunately, in the selfishness of his desire to make nice with Mayako once more, he put her safety aside for a secret he should have never kept from anyone. One too many drinks at a party he should never have attended had put him in a position he never should have been in.

At the time, Mayako and he had been an item. At the end of ninth grade, before he went to high school, their relationship started to snowball into an avalanche of distrust and hurtful words. His guilt had built to the point where he did not want to hold it in any longer, and when they had broken up, it disappeared for a time. He'd never wanted to betray her, and had never planned on fading away from his friends. It just happened that ignoring feelings was easier than dealing with them.

Breaking up with Mayako meant severing his friendship with Kenichi. The twins were two sides of the same coin. Once he fell out of grace with them, Ryosei joined suite, his desire for Mayako overshadowing his friendship with Rintaro. Mai followed Kenichi, and Reiko...was well, Reiko. She never got the whole thing and still treated him fairly, though more warily than she had before.

Who needs friends? he constantly had to ask himself. Self-delusion was a powerful tool for the weak. Rintaro knew himself to be the weakest link in the friendship between the Saotome and Tendou families.

I never meant to be a jerk, or hurt her. I never wanted her to get hurt. Sometimes things work out like that.

"Ah, no, please!" Mayako woke with a start, her head flying back and striking Rintaro in the jaw. He almost lost balance on the bike, but quickly regained his balance.

"Good morning," Rintaro said softly, weaving around a few pedestrians the moment he had the bike under control again. "Try not to move around so much or we'll both fall."

He glanced down at her black and blue face and felt a spike of guilt shoot up his spine. Her wide brown eyes sparkled with alert confusion as they darted back and forth.

"Rintaro?" she whispered, adjusting herself against him.

"Yes," he replied, helping prop her back up straight with the hand that held her.

"Where are we?"

"About three blocks from Aunt Kasumi's," he responded, slowing his pace to keep easier balance as she wiggled in his grasp. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone mistook me for their punching bag," she said followed by a hiccup. "My arm is killing me. What happened? My head's all fuzzy."

"You fought Seiko in the alley," he told her. "Don't you remember?"

"Oh hell!" she exclaimed trying to lift her right arm with a small yelp. "My face! Did she cut me up?"

"No, I stopped them from play plastic surgeon with your face," Rintaro said, feeling miserable. "But you have a really nasty black eye."

"That's nothing compared to what Seiko promised to do to me," Mayako whispered, pressing up against him tightly, enabling him to put both hands on the handle bars. His heart betrayed him and started beating like drums in a rock song. "I knew you wouldn't let them."

His stomach seemed to flip around as he gritted his teeth. He wished he could have stopped them before they'd hurt her as they had. God, how he wished for a time machine to take back everything; to not have slept with that little bitch who'd taken advantage of him while he was drunk; to tell her he loved her.

"You shouldn't be so serious all the time," Mayako said, snuggling up to him. "You saved the girl, after all."

In a burst of conscience-laced insanity, his mouth opened to confess everything. He could no longer accept her blissful ignorance of his evil. "I have to tell you something, Mayako. Please wait until I finish before you hate me, okay?"

"It's not possible for me to hate you, Rin-chan," she said with a purr, her hand finding a comfortable point just above his left hip.

He started at the beginning, his eyes growing misty with the memories. "You remember that party we went to right before we broke up? Where we had that fight about me having too much to drink?"

"Oh, don't bring up all that old baggage," she said, pouting with her puppy dog eyes staring up at him. "I don't care about any of that anymore. We were just dumb."

"Not about that, about what happened afterward." He looked down at her. She looked away, her brows furrowing with displeasure. He had to continue and tell her all. "You were right after all. I woke up next to Yusa not remembering anything. I could never tell you no matter how hard I tried. The words just never came."

Mayako remained silent, but she still held him tightly, which was a good sign.

"I didn't watch over you today, because Jotaro threatened to tell you about it. I let you fight Seiko without any backup, because I didn't want you to know. I did exactly what I was trying not to do: hurt you more. But it was all just my selfish desire to get you back again.

"I threw everything away, because I didn't have the guts to tell you. It all came back down to me not being able to live with myself. I'm so sorry, Mayako. I never wanted any of this, but it all just spiraled out of control before I knew it." Rintaro paused and noticed she had been silent the entire time. He looked down to make sure she still was awake. Her eyes were closed, but she still held onto him. He spotted a tear glistening on her cheek.

"Are you still awake, Maya-chan?" he asked, praying for it. He doubted that he could ever build enough nerve to say it again.

"I am," she said in a small voice.

"Aren't you mad?"

"Yeah," she said, opening sparkling eyes.

"Can you ever forgive me?" he asked, hoping against all that she'd say yes. He had been certain she would be too furious to ever speak to him again if she ever found out.

"I don't know. I'm still mad you didn't ever tell me, but it's not like I didn't know afterward."

That gave him a second's pause. How could she have known? She had never brought it up before in any of their fights after the incident. Had all of this been for nothing?

"But what we had, I wouldn't have thrown our relationship away for you being a stupid baka one night with that slut. I was angry for a while, especially that you didn't trust me enough to tell me. You trying to deceive me later is what really hurt. That you were willing to throw everything away, rather than just come clean and try to work through it."

"I'm sorry," he repeated, stopping in front of their destination.

Reiko's house seemed like a mansion compared to the Tendou estate. There had to be at least ten rooms in the place, with an equal amount of bathrooms and studies. The front gate stood slightly ajar, so he stopped in front of it, juggling Mayako against his left arm so that he could kick it open.

"I already let all that go though, so let's not dwell on the past."

"How can you be so forgiving?" Rintaro demanded, hating that she was not angry enough to sate his guilt. "I've spent two years trying to break away from your family completely, never giving you the time of day. And all this time, you've known? And you still forgive me? I don't understand."

Mayako remained silent as he pedaled to the front porch of the house and stopped at the door, managing to reach and press the doorbell with his free arm.

"I haven't forgiven you completely, yet. And my heart isn't for you to understand," she said cryptically. "Don't go spoiling your second chance with your self-pity."

Lifting her into his arms, he still managed to knock the kickstand in place with a swift strike of his right foot.

"You shouldn't ever forgive me," he said, still unable to accept the fact that they could get back together.

"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do, Rin-chan," she commanded him with all of her queenly power. "I'm not a doll here to please your every desire. I chose to try to start forgiving you a while ago, but you've been too blinded to see it. You need to learn to forgive yourself before you can look for it from others."

Her last words he imprinted upon his heart, as Reiko opened the door.

"What happened?" she nearly shouted, immediately swinging the door open for them to come in. "Oh, my poor Maya-chan. Are you okay, honey?"

"I think so," Mayako unconvincingly said as she clung to Rintaro with her left arm. Having brought her all this way made him feel slightly better about everything, but not good enough to forgive himself, yet.

"She's pretty beaten up," Rintaro informed the brunette. "Her right arm is probably broken, and she has at least one concussion. Is Aunt Kasumi home? She really needs to take a look at her."

"She's at the hospital right now," Reiko answered as she rushed ahead through the foyer and into the hall that split the bottom floor of the house. Rintaro followed her into the guest bedroom, where she cleared about a half-dozen pillows from the bed onto the floor. He walked around to the right side of the bed and set Mayako down on it gently.

"I'll go call my mom," Reiko muttered, looking distracted by all the bruises over Mayako's body. "I'll be right back."

Reiko then left the couple alone. For all of the pain she had suffered today, Mayako still grinned at Rintaro. He shook his head, and he could not help but smile back.

---

Reiko dialed the hospital where her mom worked as soon as she picked up the receiver. As it rang, she walked back towards the guest room where Rintaro had carried Mayako. Her heart beat quickly as she entered the room. Rintaro had drawn a chair up to the right side of the bed as he leaned over Mayako. He withdrew the moment he saw her re-enter the room.

She stood in the doorway, resting her back against the wall as she navigated through a sea of automated questions, finally just pressing the 0 key to talk to an operator.

"Nerima General Hospital," the female operator said in a cheery voice. "How can I direct this call?"

"I need to talk to my mother, who is a nurse at your hospital. Her name is Kasumi Tendou." Reiko waited as she heard a click on the line.

"Front desk, what can I do for you?"

Reiko took a deep breath and repeated herself. This time the operator checked up on her mother. After a moment, the voice returned.

"I'm sorry, but your mother has already left for home. Do you want me to leave her a message?"

"No, but thank you," she whispered into the line and then hung up.

"She not coming?" Rintaro asked after a moment.

With a shake of her head, Reiko dialed her mom's cell phone number. It rang three times before someone picked up.

"Kasumi Tendou?" her mother's voice said from the other side of the line.

"Mom!" Reiko exclaimed, her heart picking up speed again. "We need you home quick. Mayako's been hurt! She's at our house right now!"

"Oh my!" her mother replied. "I was already on my way home, from the train. How bad is she?"

Reiko walked over to the left side of the bed, sitting down next to Mayako. "Rintaro said he thinks her left arm is broken and she has some concussions. She seems to be asleep now, but she was awake when he brought her in."

"Hmm, okay, just keep her comfortable," her mother told her. "Be careful not to move her arm unless you have to! I should be home in five minutes. I'll catch a cab. Call me again if anything happens. Bye-bye."

"Okay, mom. Bye-bye!"

She hung up the phone and set it on a table beside the bed. Leaning over the hurt girl, Reiko pushed Mayako's raven bangs out of her face, and then wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"She's coming?" Rintaro sat on the edge of his seat, staring at Mayako with more concern in his face than she had seen in a long time.

"Yes, she should be here very soon," Reiko said, looking at Mayako's injured right arm curiously. Mayako had it angled away from her body slightly, yet it appeared odd. "It is broken, but it seems funny somehow. Could she have dislocated it, too?"

Furrowing his brows, Rintaro leaned over to look at her arm. "Huh, I don't know. I didn't think to check. Check to see if she has a bump just behind her right shoulder."

Already on top of it, Reiko pulled Mayako's collar back and looked at her naked shoulder. "Hmm, I don't see anything. It could be on the inside, though."

"That's possible," Rintaro whispered, cupping his face in his hands. "We should wait for your mother before we do anything. I hate seeing her like this."

"How did this happen, Rin-chan?" she asked as nicely as she could, despite her nearly overwhelming outrage at what had been done to her cousin.

"Do you remember Jotaro Saito?" Rintaro asked her, sitting back in his chair, He seemed tired, his eyes still lingering on Mayako's face.

Have they made up? Reiko wondered. She certainly hoped so. If anyone could save Rintaro from himself, it was Mayako.

"Yes, I do," she replied, remembering specifically all of the trouble he had caused at Furinkan High while she had gone there.

"He and his friends attacked Maya-chan and Kimiko Nishiyama while they were shopping," Rintaro informed her, bowing his head. Whatever had transpired seemed to have rattled the nearly unshakable young man. "I didn't realize that they would go back on their word and jump Mayako as she dueled Seiko Nomiya."

Vaguely, Reiko wondered why they had not invited her to go with them, but she filed it away. After all, look at Mayako now! Reiko would have been little help against anyone that could do something so terrible to her friend. She frowned, only wondering why the Tendous, Onos and Saotomes constantly had to fight Jotaro and his friends. It seemed so pointless.

"I hope you learned your lesson," Reiko admonished, hating to be that way to someone her own age. Then again, Rintaro had the maturity of a pubescent child. "You can never trust the lives of your friends and loved ones to people who are just as likely to take theirs. Honor be damned, if it means saving them from being hurt."

"I—" Rintaro began, but stopped as they heard the front door open. He stood expectantly as Reiko thanked the heavens. Her mother had finally arrived.

"We're in here, Mom!" she yelled, almost about to cry. If anyone could put the world back on its axis, Kasumi Tendou would be that person. Like the eye of a storm, the woman brought calm to everyone she touched.

Kasumi entered the room, still wearing her maroon work scrubs, her long hair draped like a mantle around her shoulders. Her ready smile was not visible; a frown of concern occupied her face as she entered. The light in her eyes, the soft beacon of hope for anyone who could see them, focused on Mayako who lay still on the bed.

Reiko moved out of her mother's way, quickly finding a seat on the bed next to the injured girl.

"You would think in sixteen years, she would realize she's too precious to run around beating people up," Kasumi said idly, maintaining her mysterious calm. "Hello, Rintaro. You're dressed nice today."

For the first time, Reiko looked at what he was wearing. Usually the boy wore a gi or something really tacky, but today he wore a collared shirt and slacks.

"Hi, Auntie," he whispered with a smile. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"We'll talk about this later," Kasumi replied, a motherly sternness she rarely expressed resonating in her voice. "However, right now I need you all to help. Rei-chan, please find me a pair of scissors." Reiko immediately followed her mother's directions, managing to hear her mother say as she exited the room, "Rintaro, you know where the kitchen is, right? Please get me a bag of ice and some paper towels. Also get the first aid kit. It's above the fridge."

Warmth radiated from her body as she ran into her father's study. The mess that surrounded her immediately overwhelmed her. Where would he keep scissors? Searching the top drawer, she immediately struck success. A pair of large paper cutting scissors stared back at her.

Returning to the room quickly with the utensil clutched in her hand, Reiko found her mother hovering over Mayako.

"Maya-chan," Kasumi whispered. "I need you to wake up, honey."

"Here are the scissors, Mom," Reiko informed the older woman, stopping to stand beside her.

"Thank you, darling," Kasumi said warmly, taking them from her daughter's hand. "Go around the other side of the bed, and try to wake her."

The brunette did just that as her mother began to untuck Mayako's blue blouse from her white trousers. Sitting where Rintaro had before, Reiko leaned over Mayako and examined her black eye. It looked so hideous on the pretty girl.

Moving her head close to Mayako's ear, she exclaimed quite loudly, "Mayako!"

The raven-haired girl jerked as her eyes shot open. Immediately, her teeth grit together and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She looked to be on the verge of sobs, fighting it as her jaw clenched.

"Hi, Mayako," Reiko whispered softly, taking her hand. Mayako squeezed back as soon as Reiko touched it, somewhat surprised by the strength she had. "Not too tight now."

"Sorry, Rei-chan," the girl apologized between sniffs. "My arm hurts so bad!"

Kasumi leaned over Mayako as Rintaro returned with a plastic bag full of ice and several sheets of paper towels. The frown on his face lightened as he quietly placed the supplies on the nightstand next to Kasumi. He then walked over into the corner of the room and sat on a knee-high dresser next to a lamp.

"Mayako, I need you to concentrate for me, okay?" she asked of the injured girl. Mayako nodded her affirmation. "I'm going to cut away your blouse and then look at your arm. Please try not to move at all."

"Yes, Auntie," she whispered, taking quick, shallow breaths.

As Reiko's mother started cutting Mayako's blouse up the center, Reiko took the girl's hand and clasped it with both of her hands, interlacing their fingers. Mayako turned her head to the side to weakly smile at her cousin. Returning it with one of hers, Reiko prayed the pain would not last much longer.

Pulling away the scraps of Mayako's shirt and only leaving her bra for modesty, Kasumi gasped. Reiko's eyes bulged as she put a shocked hand to her mouth. The skin from her stomach to her shoulders was covered in a multitude of bruises and welts. Reiko reasoned that they must have knocked her down and kicked her.

"Maya-chan!" a whimpered cry came from behind Reiko, causing the brunette to turn. She had not recognized Rintaro's voice, as it sounded to be more of a sob than anything. He did not cry, but she knew he must have been torn inside, seeing someone he cared for so hurt. His next oath did not come as a surprise, but Reiko had to strain to hear it. "I swear I won't let anything ever happen to you again."

"Rintaro," Kasumi called softly to the boy who seemed to be in shock. She called his name again, louder this time to get his attention. "I need your help."

"My help?" he skeptically asked walking over to the woman. "What can I do?"

"You must have noticed her arm is dislocated," she replied, beckoning for him to stand by her. "You've had more than your share of them, from what I've heard."

His face flashed crimson, but whether in anger or shame, Reiko had no idea. As he drew closer, he did not seem to be so much angry as hurt.

"You can say that," he replied, turning his head and closing his eyes after getting a closer look at her arm. "Yeah, it's dislocated. I hadn't realized until we brought her here." He turned back to face Kasumi. "What is it that you want me to do?"

"You've had more experience with these than I have," Kasumi admitted, rather abashedly. Her eyes wandered down to the poor girl under her care.

"Well, yeah, but the last time I helped anyone with one of these, I was thirteen," he stated, sitting next to Mayako. "It hurts so bad popping them back into place. You have to put something in her mouth so she doesn't bite her tongue or hurt jaw. Then you just pop the bone back into place. It's not hard, but you have to know what you're doing."

"Yes, that's why I need you to do it," the woman replied. Reiko looked at Rintaro with a new light. She did not know he knew anything about healing. "I've never done this before."

"You haven't?" Rintaro asked almost shocked. "But I can't do it! Doctor Tofu always watched over me to make sure it was okay. Even when I had to pop my own arm back into place, it was always just mine. I can't take a chance with Mayako!"

Kasumi shook her head. "The longer you wait, the longer she has to suffer. I could do it, but I think you need to."

Reiko watched the color drain from Rintaro's face before he nodded gravely. What could her mother have meant by that? Reiko wondered.

Her eyes followed the boy with interest. He unbuckled his belt and then removed it, as Kasumi stood and walked to the other side of the girl where she retrieved the first aid kit. Reiko then watched the nurse, as she pulled out a bottle and some gauze. With the scissors, she started cutting away Mayako's pants around her thigh, where a thick gash was revealed.

"Mayako," Rintaro said softly into her ear. "I need you to bite down on this. Go ahead and bite as hard as you need to." She nodded as he put the belt in her mouth. "I'm going to put the joint back in place. It's going to hurt really bad, so bad you're going to want to scream. Just bite down on the belt. You can scream all you need to after. It will only take a second."

Still holding Mayako's hand tightly, the girl fidgeted as Reiko's mother applied something to her thigh. Her eyes stung as tears started flooding them again.

"Rintaro, go ahead." Kasumi stopped cleaning the wound to watch the young man.

"Forgive me, Dr. Tofu," Rintaro sighed as he gritted his teeth. "On the count of three, I'm going to do it, okay, Mayako?" The girl nodded tersely, already biting down on Rintaro's belt. Reiko turned her head as he counted. One, two, snap! The sickening pop of bones sent a chill down Reiko's spine.

Mayako's chest surged up, squealing through the belt. Reiko strained to keep the girl from throwing her with her good arm, and she was lifted out of her chair. The belt slipped from the girl's mouth and she screamed, her voice piercing Reiko's ears. After a moment, she quieted down and merely sobbed into the pillow beneath her head.

Rintaro already had the bag of ice in his hands, and he propped it up against her shoulder, protected by the paper towels. His eyes looked suspiciously red as he knelt on the ground, putting his head by Mayako's ribs. The dark-haired girl turned to her healer, and then put her hand through his hair.

Reiko felt helpless, as she realized she could neither protect nor heal her cousin in the way that Rintaro could. He possessed the ability to cause so much pain, as Reiko had witnessed on Sunday when he had fought Kimiko. She had never known he'd worked with Dr. Tofu, though she did know he was always close to Shampoo and Tofu Ono. The doctor seemed to be a mentor to anyone who came along.

"Mayako, I'm going to put an anesthetic in your leg so that I can stitch this cut. You'll only feel a prick."

Just then Reiko caught a glimpse of a needle and looked at the spot where her mother planned to inject it. A sudden dizziness filled her head as she wobbled for a moment.

"Reiko?" she heard Rintaro say, but her eyes had already darkened. As the room began to spin, she fell backwards, caught by the chair.

---

As Reiko fell backwards into her chair, it seemed so ironic to Rintaro that he would have laughed had her mother not been present. Ever since she had been young, Reiko talked the talk better than anyone he knew, but she had one fatal flaw. When reality came too close, she broke down. Everyone had tried to include her in their circle of martial arts, but she did not have the nerve to even think about using her fists.

That was not what made Rintaro dislike the brunette, rather far from it. In a perfect world, he imagined that sort of peaceful nature might have been widely considered ideal. Not her, though; she suffered from something much different than pacifism. He thought of her as having a sort of crass disregard for everyone and everything around her.

Her entire life, she had been sheltered by family. Everyone at school knew that behind her stood the entirety of the Tendou, Saotome and Ono families, but more so since she had no ability to fight. With that shielding her, she had the mouth of someone who felt herself superior to that way of life, far too mature to require the martial lifestyle that all of her cousins and friends lived. She lived without the caution they had, as if someone would always be there to defend her; but she never acknowledged them for it.

Rintaro did not really like anyone's personality in his family, but liked Reiko the least. It had nothing to do with any menial vendetta, or anything she did to him. His dislike for her was completely because of her useless, arrogant nature. Not even a healer's lifestyle suited her, as the mere sight of a syringe caused her to faint. Significant amounts of blood probably had the same effect on her.

He only gave Reiko a moment's regard as he held Mayako's weak right hand. Her tears had begun to stop, but she seemed to be falling asleep again. Rintaro did not blame her, and he wished he could collapse next to her, as he recalled the pain of having his joint knocked out of place and having it put back.

The dark-haired young man had suffered his first dislocation at the age of eleven, when his father did not care for his performance in a junior martial arts freestyle competition. His father had not purposely hurt Rintaro, but the fatigue of having competed and lost in the tournament, mounted with his father's need for him to be the best, resulted in a grueling training session that had lasted the better part of two weeks. It only ended when Rintaro failed to block an easy kick, which resulted in a loud pop and intense pain.

Doctor Tofu did not even ask how it had happened when he'd arrived on his doorstep. It must have been some unspoken pact between the martial artist families that everything was an accident as long as it was curable. After expressing a deep curiosity, even with the pain he felt in his arm, Doctor Tofu had showed him how to pop his own joint back into socket, though he did have the doctor's guiding hands to help. The idea that he could cure himself had amazed him to the extent that any thoughts of his father hurting him vanished.

Unable to do anything for a month as his arm healed, Genma had allowed his son to informally apprentice with Doctor Tofu and stay with the Onos during that time. A bit of medical knowledge never hurt, the old man had reasoned to his son as almost a disclaimer that Rintaro could not become a doctor, even if he wished it. He did not care, as it had allowed him to learn something new and get to see what other families were like. Shampoo and Tofu had shared more love with him in one month than Rintaro had experienced in a lifetime with his family.

After the four weeks had ended, Rintaro managed to convince his father to allow him back a few times a month, in addition to more time during breaks. His father agreed, working with the Tendous and the two Ono children during those times. His father even began teaching at the Tendou dojo after that. It was strange how bad things ended in good, but eventually he had stopped going to help Doctor Tofu, when High School started, competitions became much more intense and he'd found someone he would rather spend his free moments with.

As much as he liked working with the doctor, he loved Mayako.

Just thinking of the "L" word made him shiver. He took that back. He really felt obligated to her safety, and that was all, or at least that was what he told himself.

"I'm done here," Kasumi stated, head drooping a bit as she shook her head. "We should cover her up before she gets a chill."

Rintaro remembered Mayako's lack of a shirt and colored slightly as he stood. Mayako still clutched his hand as he rose, so he bent over so as to not move her arm much.

Kasumi walked around and up to her daughter. "Help me pull this sheet over her?"

The two of them covered Mayako and stood for a moment, looking down at the injured girl.

"I really don't want to know what happened," Kasumi told him, her tone very serious. He almost did a double take to make sure it was his Aunt Kasumi talking. "But Akane will once she finds out what happened to her daughter. Do you want to be the one who explains it to her?"

Rintaro closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. She must have blamed him for this; otherwise, she would not nearly have been so straightforward with him. She always had a subtle way of getting people to do things, as Reiko did, but now she seemed a bit out of balance.

"I will," he whispered, opening his eyes to see his Aunt kneeling by Reiko. "And I will make it up to her, Auntie."

"I know you will," she replied, her voice returning to normal. "Could you also carry my daughter upstairs to her room? She's gained a bit of weight since I last picked her up."

Trying to catch the giggle in his throat, Rintaro only succeeded at the thought of Kasumi making a joke, rather than the content of it.

"No problem," he told her.

Kasumi nodded, took one last glimpse of Mayako, and then walked over to the end of the bed to pick up all the first aid supplies.

"Don't put them all away yet," Rintaro said as he walked past her to stop near Reiko.

"Are you hurt?" she asked skeptically, her eyebrows furrowing.

"No, but Kenichi's girlfriend is," he replied as evenly as he could manage, though he imagined he sounded pretty snotty. He certainly would not apologize for Kimiko's injuries. Those were entirely of her own creation. He only considered Mayako to be under the realm of his protection at the moment.

Kneeling in order to lift the brunette, Rintaro slid his hands under her slight body. He lifted her, but put too much power into the motion and nearly fell over. Taking a step back to catch his balance, he realized she must have only weighed a bit over a hundred pounds. The woman needed to eat more.

Leaving with Reiko in his arms, he wondered when the next woman would fall over, who he would have to carry around all day, realizing this would have been a pervert's dream. Too bad for him, he couldn't care less about Reiko. As he entered the house's foyer, he heard footsteps on the porch outside. Pausing in his step, Rintaro turned and watched the door open.

Light flooded the foyer, stopping at Rintaro's feet as he stood, watching Kenichi and Kimiko enter. Their shadows stretched forward as they entered, their footsteps echoing in the wooden house.

With a smug grin, Rintaro ignored them and walked up the stairs.

---

Kimiko and Kenichi shared a quiet glance at one another the moment after Rintaro had walked up the stairs with Reiko asleep in his arms. Kenichi's brown eyes looked just as confused as Kimiko felt. He shrugged and called out.

"Aunt Kasumi?"

"I'm in the guest bedroom," they heard from somewhere down a long hall that hid beneath the staircase. Kimiko felt the need to tug her ponytail at the sound of Kasumi's voice. If anything had changed, she doubted Kasumi to be a part of it.

Following Kenichi into the hall, Kimiko marveled at all the pictures that lined the wall. She stopped at one, a group photograph of the entire Tendou family with the Saotomes and the Onos. Someone seemed missing from the picture, for some reason. However, she could not figure out who it could have been.

The next picture was of Mousse with short hair and without his glasses, holding a small girl, whom Kimiko imagined was Reiko. She still wondered how that could have happened. The last Kimiko remembered of the duck had him following Shampoo back to China. Something had crisscrossed two couples that had seemed more or less destined to be together. Kasumi and Tofu would have been a no-brainer a week ago, and beneath it all, Shampoo seemed to have some level of care for Mousse. The chance that the two would have switched partners struck her as odd.

Though, now that she thought about it, something strikingly similar connected the two: blind confusion. Mousse did not act as insane as Tofu could be when with Shampoo, but both men shared a relatively ridiculous attitude in the presence of their former significant other. If it could have happened anywhere, it would have been in Nerima.

"Kimiko?" she heard Kenichi ask from the doorway to the hall.

"Coming." Barely catching glimpses of other pictures as she walked toward Kenichi, she did notice one of all the children that she would go back and take a closer look at afterward.

Kasumi sat on a bed next to Mayako, who from under the covers, looked to be asleep. The older woman seemed to be adjusting the position of a bag of ice on the girl's shoulder.

Unlike everyone else, Kasumi looked so similar that it was almost shocking. Having slept through a good portion of it, Kimiko had missed meeting Kasumi or Mousse on Sunday. The older woman's long chocolate hair lightly rested upon her shoulders, falling freely down her back. Time had been very generous to the woman, who looked much younger for one well into middle age. Even in boring maroon work scrubs, Kasumi held a regal stature about her soft exterior.

She rose from the bed and turned to face Kimiko, dropping her jaw. The look could not have been explained any better than by calling it shocked recognition. No sooner had Kimiko witnessed the lapse in Kasumi's calm than it reappeared on the woman's face.

Kasumi whispered something to herself. More audibly this time, she said, "You must be Kenichi's girlfriend." At her mention of the word 'girlfriend,' Kenichi, who had been preparing to sit next to his sister, missed the bed and fell straight on his butt.

Ignoring her nephew for a moment, the woman introduced herself with a bow. "I am Kasumi Tendou." Her gaze then turned to Kenichi who stood, rubbing his rear end.

"Oh my, are you all right, Kenichi?" the woman asked, helping the boy up. "Will you introduce me to her?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied, sitting back on the bed. His eyes found Kimiko for a moment, looking speculative, but then turned back to Mayako. "I'd like to introduce you to Kimiko Nishiyama, but we're not dating."

"Hi," Kimiko said, glad the tension did not make anyone burst a brain cell.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kasumi said, her eyes finding Kimiko's face again. "Rintaro said Kenichi and his girlfriend would be coming, and that the girl was hurt. I had no idea there would be more guests. Is she still on the way?" Kimiko felt it best just to remain silent.

"Er, uh, no," Kenichi said, looking rather uncomfortable. "I, uh, that is to say..."

"Saotome-san must have just been mistaken," Kimiko said quietly, half returning Kasumi's stare, while feeling quite out of place. "I'm sorry, Tendou-san, is something wrong?" Though she already knew the reason, she had to ask the question to keep up her ruse, which thinned by the moment.

"So, you're not hurt?" Kasumi asked slowly, approaching Kimiko a bit warily.

Put off by Kasumi's shock and strange manner, Kimiko just stood like a doe in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"Kimiko?" Kenichi asked, looking over at her.

She weakly smiled at him. "Well, I took a few hard knocks to the head, and one to the cheek. But I think I'm okay now."

"I should take a look at you anyway," Kasumi said. Close enough to touch her, the woman gently did, tilting her head downwards slightly. Kasumi did not have to do it far to see the top of her head, as the woman towered over the short redhead.

"Hmm, I think I'll need some better light than this," she said, turning around to grab a white first aid kit from the bed. "Will you follow me to the bathroom, Kimiko? The upstairs one has a really bright light."

Nodding to the older woman, Kimiko felt a bit of panic creep into her chest. Would not any place close to a lamp have suited? she wondered, but followed the woman into the hall anyway.

"So you're Kiyoshi Nishiyama's sister?" the woman asked as they made their way down the hall.

"Yes," Kimiko replied, and then gritted her teeth.

"Your brother is very nice boy," the other stated, exiting the hall to turn onto the staircase that stood in directly to the right in the foyer. "He visited my father a few times when he was younger."

"He did?" Kimiko asked, a bit shocked by that. She did not know he'd had that much contact with the Tendous.

"Oh yes, but that was before Nishiyama-san adopted him into his family. Several years before it, in fact. He trained with father and Uncle Genma, before taking a job out to the east. But you probably know much more about it than me."

At the end of the stairs, Kimiko said quietly, "Not really."

Kasumi paused at this and looked back, but then continued past a few more doors until she entered a large bathroom. Switching on the light, the woman beckoned Kimiko in.

One thing about the bathroom was that Kasumi had been right. It was very bright and spacious. The floor space occupied the room in a square, with a double set of shiny white sinks on the counters ahead of her, a giant bathtub filled the left half of the room and a shower to the right. Several stools stood against the counter, one of which Kasumi pulled back and then patted.

Obliging the woman, Kimiko sat down on the stool, nervously pulling her skirt lower. Sitting with a miniskirt tended to leave her panties unnecessarily exposed. Kasumi walked over and closed the door before returning.

"I'm really sorry you got involved in their little battles," Kasumi told her, gently tilting her head again. "Wherever those ones go, they bring trouble in droves." She then started to look through her hair, pulling it aside in patches.

"I can handle my own," Kimiko stated, looking down to avoid looking into Kasumi's breasts, especially since she exposed quite a bit of cleavage at the angle she sat across from her.

"You practice martial arts?" the woman asked after a moment. "This might take a while. Your hair color makes it impossible to see if you are bleeding or even cut."

"Yes, I'm about as good as Rintaro," she mumbled.

"Really?" Kasumi asked, drawing back a bit. "That's surprising. You don't seem to be any older than fifteen."

"Yeah, people always think that," Kimiko responded. "Sometimes they tell me I'm thirteen or fourteen, but I'm actually a lot older than that."

"If you're lucky, everyone will always be a few years behind in their guesses." Kasumi continued probing her head.

"If I ever need any tips at how to stay looking so young," Kimiko began, hoping to ward further discussion of her age, "I'll most certainly ask you."

"Why thank you," the woman said, seeming to glow a bit afterward. "That's sweet of you. Where about do you think you hit your head?" Kasumi's fingers combed locks on the right side of her head.

"One of those guys knocked me onto the street," Kimiko answered, thinking hard to remember the fight. "I think it was probably on the back of my head, since I fell backwards. The other was into a brick wall, but I don't remember where I hit my head exactly. Somewhere near the front, or a side. My whole head hurt by then anyway."

Walking behind Kimiko, the woman started picking through her hair on the back of her head.

---

"Consider avoiding fights in the near future," Kasumi advised the redhead, as she found what she had been looking for. "There is an abrasion here that could have been a lot more serious if you had fallen any harder. I'll clean it for you, but you need to be a lot more careful."

As Kasumi bent over and opened a drawer below the left sink, she waited to hear an excuse. Kimiko made none, merely remaining silent as the woman found a bottle antiseptic. She applied it to a piece of gauze from the first aid kit and then touched the edge of the scrape. Kimiko yelped and jerked her head.

"Hold still."

"Sorry," Kimiko apologized softly.

Picking through strands of crimson red hair to find red lines across a possible cut scalp had been a chore for Kasumi. A few traces of blood dried together some clumps of hair on the back of her head. Kasumi cleaned it thoroughly and then examined the small mark that remained.

"You're really lucky," she told the redhead. "You said the other bump was on the side of your head?"

"Yes, but more like the front right side, I think. It doesn't sting anymore, so I don't remember."

Clearing through more clumps of the bright hair, Kasumi wondered about the girl. When she first saw Kimiko, Kasumi almost swore she saw a ghost. If not for the roughed-up, but very feminine clothing, she would have immediately known it to be Ranma. Her manner was all wrong, though. If Kasumi remembered anyone from so long ago, it was the boy who had caused so much trouble for her family.

Finding nothing, Kasumi shook her head. "Other than that one scrape, you look okay," Kasumi told the redhead. "You probably damaged the concrete wall more than the surface of your head. Although, you probably lost some of your brain cells."

"Wouldn't be the first time," the girl said with a chuckle.

"When you see Rintaro," Kasumi began, looking at the girl's pretty face, marred so by the bruise on her cheek, "tell him to get you a bag with ice. It will keep your cheek from swelling more than it has." She paused a moment, cupping the girl's chin with her hand. Aside from looking like Ranma's female side, Ranma's mother as a teenager, and a female version of Rintaro, she really did not know what all the fuss was about. Akane had called her to tell her what she suspected, but Kasumi would not accept the fact that the Ranma she knew would ever become pregnant. It was trying to mix water with oil as far as she was concerned.

Ranma could have very well been this child's father, but thinking that the girl could have been born from the womb of Ranma's female side was ridiculous. Certainly Jusenkyo magic did not pervert people that much, she reasoned.

"Well, you should be okay, but if you experience any dizziness or losses of consciousness, be sure to talk to me or a doctor. Aside from your face, does anywhere else hurt?"

Kimiko blinked and then looked down towards knees. When she looked up again, she shrugged helplessly. "I think my clothes took the worst of it."

"Speaking of your clothes, did you fight dressed like that?" One of Kasumi's eyebrows arched as she looked at the girl. A miniskirt and a cut-off blouse hardly seemed adequate for fighting. She must have, though, considering the state of the apparel. The beige skirt and white blouse had black streaks and dirt smeared about them so randomly that it might have been a piece of artwork.

"Yeah," Kimiko said, looking down at herself. "Martial artists have to be able to fight wearing anything."

"I understand that," Kasumi returned, but she could not help wondering if the girl had any modesty at all. "But you must have done some high kicking. Wouldn't that be giving everyone around a peek at your panties?"

Crossing her legs mechanically, Kimiko's eyes bulged as her face took a particularly dark flush. "I didn't think about that when I dressed this morning. I just didn't want to look all trashy shopping with Mayako, and I didn't expect to get in a brawl today. How I'm dressed just doesn't come to mind when I am fighting for my life."

"Next time consider shorts," Kasumi told her with a shake of her head. "At least you wore modest underwear. Some girls these days wear practically nothing underneath the tiniest skirts. It's so shameful."

Kimiko smiled at her haphazardly. The pink in her cheeks gave Kasumi the sense to move on.

"Would you like a change of clothes?" the woman asked. "I could get some of Reiko's clothes for you to borrow."

"Oh no," Kimiko said with a quick shake of her head. "I just bought some outfits today. I can wear a new one."

"Okay, but consider showering first."

"Ah heh, okay," the redhead replied. "Make sure Kenichi does, too. He must have traveled across half of Tokyo today at light speed."

"Will do," Kasumi said. Considering she probably would not have another moment alone with the redhead, Kasumi figured she should be straight with the girl. "Kimiko, do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

With wide eyes, Kimiko looked up at her after a moment and nodded slowly.

"Was your father named Ranma?"

Still sitting on the stool, the girl nearly fell off as the stool wobbled. "Whoa!" she exclaimed before clattering to the ground on her side. "Damn."

"Are you okay?" Kasumi asked, moving to help Kimiko to her feet. The girl accepted her hand and stood up straight, dusting herself off.

"Uh, yeah," the girl said, still a little flustered. "My birth father is what you mean, isn't it?" She did not give the impression that she wanted to talk about this.

"Well, I know who your adopted father is," Kasumi told the girl, speculating on her reaction. "I only ask, because you're the spitting image of him. My sister, Akane thinks you have to be, considering everything."

"What's everything?" Kimiko asked.

Kasumi realized her error in letting the redhead naively lead the discussion with her question. Now she had to tell her about what she had hoped Kimiko would tell her in the first place. Her evasions were truly first class.

"He disappeared a long time ago, child," Kasumi said, lifting the stool back up. "We don't talk about it, because it's a very painful moment between the families. Everyone loved him very much."

"What happened to him?" Kimiko asked, another question which Kasumi was starting to get tired of. Here she was, giving away everything for nothing.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Kasumi whispered, sitting down. "You can tell me while you clean yourself up, if you wish."

"It's been a very long time since I've talked to my birth father," Kimiko told her, walking past her to the shower. "I was in a coma for a long time after an accident. All I know is that he wasn't with me when I woke up."

Even after revealing so much, Kasumi realized she still knew very little. The girl had not even confirmed the name of the man she spoke of, though Kasumi did realize she had purposefully avoided telling her.

Starting the shower, Kimiko looked back at the woman. "A significant portion of my life, I traveled the countryside with my father. We never stayed in any place longer than a few weeks, and tended to move on quickly. I knew he was running from something, but he never told me what."

That sounded more like Genma than the Ranma she remembered.

"He taught me almost everything I know," Kimiko reminisced as she removed her tiny top. "He never told me about my family or where we came from. I never learned much about my mother during that time with him on the road, just because we had left her when we were so young. He always kept me at a distance, never letting on too much and always putting things in terms of training."

The more she talked, the more her life sounded like Ranma's. Kasumi wondered just a moment if she were Ranma himself, instead of a child. Aside from a major discrepancy in age, the girl's story could have very well been told by Ranma. Her martial arts, according to Akane, might have been taught directly from Ranma as well. Akane had mentioned the girl knew things only a Saotome could have known during her spar with Rintaro.

Kasumi averted her eyes as Kimiko removed the rest of her clothes and stepped into the shower. A quick glance proved that this could not have been Ranma. Steam rose from her body as she showered behind the glass that encased the shower. Heat quickly changed the clear glass to the hue of peach that colored the bathroom. She did not change into a boy.

"Whoa!" the girl exclaimed from within the shower. "Didn't know it would do that."

Now that Kasumi thought about everything Kimiko had told her, it could have applied to Ranma also. Ranma would not have told Kimiko about her mother if that were him. Considering how long Akane searched for him, running away would have been the only way he could have escaped unnoticed. Perhaps the reason it sounded so much like Genma was because Ranma had in essence become the old man in his flight from Akane, as the elder Saotome had fled from Nodoka.

"You haven't seen your father since you woke up?" Kasumi asked, cleaning up the few items she had used to examine Kimiko. She heard the girl pause in her scrubbing.

"He wasn't there when I woke up," she replied barely loud enough for Kasumi to hear over the water. Her voice sounded more sad than angry. "After all the crap he put me through, if he didn't want to be there for me, why should I look for him?"

"I understand," Kasumi responded, although she did not mean it.

The sadness in her voice made Kasumi realize it must have really hit a soft spot beneath the girl's formidable armor. "I'm sorry I brought up those memories for you, dear. I didn't think it was such a touchy subject for you."

The girl continued her scrubbing, but did not respond to Kasumi's apology. The older woman knew when she was no longer welcome to ask questions. Kasumi gritted her teeth as she stared at the peach glass that hid the shattered remains of Ranma's suspected child. She really wanted to get to the heart of the mystery and she knew Kimiko had an answer to a twenty-year-old question.

"I'll have one of the boys bring your clothes up. The towels are underneath the right sink. You can bathe if you want as well. Take all the time you need."

"Thank you, Tendou-san," Kasumi heard as she exited the bathroom. No sooner did she slide the door open in front of her than she regretted confronting the girl. Ranma had proven to be unpredictable in the past, but never when it came to his family. If Kimiko were truly Ranma's daughter, where was he? Dropping the name had at least confirmed she knew it.

Kimiko's answers bothered her, even though she should have been sympathetic towards the child. Somehow, her return seemed to not be so much by chance as by design. Kiyoshi or Nobukazu Nishiyama must have had contact with Ranma early in his life to know who his daughter was. That gave her a chill. She had not even known of the two Nishiyamas until after Ranma's disappearance. Why would they not say anything? Could the truth of what had happened have been that bad?

She temporarily put it out of her mind as she went into Reiko's room to check on the poor girl. Between Mayako's dislocated arm and the syringe, her daughter must have shorted a few brain circuits.

---

For Mayako Tendou, the darkness of sleep was not filled with dreams, but of pain and frustration. Though the dream was dark, obscured by shadows, she could see a pair of eyes watching her, like black orbs darker than night, a spot of nothing against a plain of stars. They never blinked and they saw her as she lay in someone's arms. Daring not to move, even the slightest bump shot a dull pain through her body.

When she woke, the darkness and the eyes vanished, but the pain did not. Her body ached as a whole, no spot free from pain. She heard a voice as she opened her eyes, unable to understand the words. She recognized that voice, but could not put a name to the sound for a moment, and then she recalled. Her brother, Kenichi. He must have come to take away the pain, or at least that was what she hoped.

"Can you hear me?" he asked as she tried to focus.

She lay on a bed. Her right arm felt terribly cold, and her left leg felt numb. Her eyes focused on Kenichi's face, and she tried to smile, but that only made her eye hurt.

"You had me worried, butterfly," he whispered so softly in her ear that it tickled. Butterfly. He had not called her that since elementary school. She did not even remember why he called her that. She had liked butterflies back then...

"Hi," she whispered back, aware of her whole body now. The pain was not as bad as it had been in her dream, or when Rintaro had helped her. The pain then had almost caused her to black out, but she had held on to show Rintaro she was made of tougher stuff. It had not lasted long as she had fallen fast asleep from the exhaustion of so much pain.

She felt his soft lips kiss her forehead, one of the few places that did not hurt.

"My body hurts," she whispered to him, not feeling energetic enough to lift her head. How long was I out?"

She felt Kenichi's fingers intertwine with hers, making her smile weakly. His voice tickled her ear as he spoke. "Not long. A few minutes or so."

"Who's here now?"

"Here now?" he asked. "Well, just me right now. Rintaro left to carry Reiko to her room. She seemed a little out of it. Aunt Kasumi took Kimiko to another room to clean her up, too. She had some nasty-looking bruises. The question is, how are you feeling?"

"Did you catch the license number of the speeding bus?" Mayako joked, though her jaw felt a little raw. She must have bitten a whole in that belt. Her blurry vision started clearing, revealing Kenichi's worried face.

Kenichi chuckled lightly, kissing her forehead again. "Don't ever duel one of them again, okay? They always pull something funny. They even tried to gang up on Ryosei last week, before Kimiko jumped in."

"I didn't think Seiko would sink so low," she admitted, wincing as she tried to move her leg a bit. "The katana I could handle, but the surprise attack caught me off-guard. It shouldn't have."

She looked up at her brother, focusing on his face. He looked so tired. Red stains marred his pretty brown eyes, even as his lids seemed to droop a bit. Then she noticed a speck of blood on his forehead. It seemed out of place against his tanned skin. No cuts or abrasions ruined his smooth skin.

"You have a little blood on your forehead," she whispered. She laughed a bit as he scrubbed his head with his sleeve.

"That get it?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling. It did not hurt as bad this time.

"Rintaro's lip must have splashed me," he muttered, seemingly to himself. He smiled back down at her. "No worries."

A little confusion crept over her. Rintaro's lip? she wondered. How could that have splashed him unless he...

"Did you get in a fight with Rin-chan?" she asked suspiciously, trying to glare at him, but the effort hurt her eye.

Kenichi lifted the bag of ice from her shoulder as she watched. The paper towels covering it stuck with the bag as he balled it up and then leaned over her. "Close your eyes."

She shut her lids and felt him place it over her right eye. Opening the other, she poked her tongue out at him. He laughed back as he stood.

"Don't evade my question," she admonished, using her open eye to glare.

"Yes," he said simply with a shrug. "I was so mad when I saw him standing, not even injured with both you and Kimiko lying on the concrete that I just snapped. I didn't even care that he didn't do anything. The fact that he LET you get hurt..."

"He saved me, you know," she interjected as his voice trailed off. "Seiko meant to cut me up. He didn't let her do that."

Kenichi nodded, bowing his head.

"It's okay, though," she muttered. "I think you knocked some sense into him."

"How so?" he asked. "If he had any sense at all, he wouldn't let people who care about him get hurt."

"He respects my abilities," she responded, turning her head slightly to look away from Kenichi. "And he wasn't too far off. I just didn't get a chance to alert him until it was almost too late. Afterwards, he carried me all the way here and popped my arm back into place."

"It wasn't broken?" Kenichi asked, poking her arm. It did not hurt her at all, she realized. Only the throbbing in her shoulder really hurt.

"Kasumi said it was just dislocated."

"HE fixed it?" Kenichi said, the shock clear in his voice. "What's he, a part-time doctor now?"

"Don't criticize him," she said with a scowl. "He did a lot for me, and I'm thankful. Can't you be happy that he's finally coming back to us?"

"I'm not so naive to think he's just suddenly cured from being a jackass."

Mayako replied with a humph, but knew that Kenichi could not easily forgive Rintaro. She hoped he would try for her sake though. Mayako felt that she could fall in love with him again, if he would let her.

"You don't have to make that face," Kenichi said coyly. "I'll give him a chance, but if he messes up like this again, I don't think I can ever forgive him."

"He won't," she said, sure of it. "I know he won't."

At that moment, the creak of the door caught her ear, but she did not hear anyone enter. She felt Kenichi's body stiffen as his grip on her hand right hand tightened. Rintaro must have entered.

"She's not dying," Rintaro's voice echoed from across the room. "Let her breathe a little or she won't wake up at all." The ever-present ice in his voice emotionally chilled the air. Kenichi's grip loosened from hers as he straightened and stood. His body no longer blocked her view of the doors as she stared past his legs to where the eldest Saotome stood.

Mayako knew this was where the bucks had to butt heads, and decided to figuratively interject herself between them. She figured that the best way to do that was to start making fun of people.

"Oh Rin-chan, I didn't hear you come in. The usual clucking of the hens didn't announce your presence." Kenichi seemed to lighten up as she spoke up.

Rintaro blinked as he looked down toward Mayako. His grimace cracked slightly into a grin. "But, you just did, right?"

Mayako's brows involuntarily crooked as she bit her lip at his remark. The tension in her face lessened even though she could not think of a retort, turning into a smile. She missed having people who could figuratively go toe-to-toe with her.

"Do you think I could have a word with her alone?" Rintaro asked of Kenichi. Kenichi involuntarily rubbed his arm as glanced back at Mayako. When she nodded to him, he shrugged and brushed past Rintaro, knocking shoulders with no love lost.

Mayako knew that Kenichi had not liked Rintaro before, but it never ceased to amaze her how deeply he resented the Saotome boy. She did not even know the entire story behind the break in their friendship. They had been friendly enough in junior high school.

Not left to her thoughts any longer, Rintaro seemed happy that Kenichi had walked far enough away and then closed the door to the room with a sleepy motions. He did not seem as physically tired as he seemed weary with the empty motions his life, it seemed from Mayako's perspective. He did nothing but train, study and pick on people for all she knew, but there was something about him that she could never deny.

The moment he walked toward her, his tender blue eyes staring at her with a hopeless kind of sadness, she knew exactly why she could never deny him what he wanted. Even when they had been platonic friends and rivals, she had been inexplicably drawn to him. Back then, she had challenged him.

He took her brother's place on the bed, sitting next to her. As he sat, she shifted her knees to brush up against his lower back. He shifted slightly, not away from her, but closer to her lower thigh. Without the use of one arm, she still managed to sit up and place a pillow against the headboard for her back.

Rintaro did not turn to look at her right away. His black bangs dangled in his face as he stared at the bottom of the dresser across from him.

"So..." Mayako cued, hoping to get something more than a little contact out of him before her brother came storming back in. Hopefully, he would admit he had loved her the whole time they were apart, and that he could not live without her. Now that was the type of ego-booster Mayako would have loved to hear. She had to admit the chances were poor, but she could always dream.

"I'm sorry about your arm," he said quietly, not with usual spunk. Kenichi's leaving seemed to have deflated his defenses somewhat.

"I'm glad it was you who pushed it back in the right spot," she told him, hoping he could get past the apology without her having to shame him by acknowledging it. She wanted to lift his spirits, not accept an apology for something in which he'd had no part.

"I knew that Seiko was going to challenge you before it happened."

Mayako blinked, wondering if she heard him right.

"I swear I didn't know they'd play cheap like that, though," he insisted the next moment, turning to look her in the eye. His eyes looked a bit misty, but it could have been the low lighting in the room.

"How?" she asked him, still boggling how he could have known.

"Jotaro confronted me while you and Nishiyama-san were at the boutique. He asked me not to interfere." He wet his lips the next second and turned his eyes downward. He did not seem the valiant warrior king of her dreams; more like the sullen puppy expecting to be struck for its behavior.

"Why on earth would you do such a thing?" she demanded of him, clenching her teeth at the very thought that he might have intended her to be hurt. Pulling her hand from his, she looked at him, not sure if this was the same person she had known as a child. Kenichi might have been right after all.

"I..." he began, drawing back into his shell by physically distancing himself from her and becoming emotionally distant. She had seen it happen before.

She would never get anything out of him if he felt she would cut him off as he had her. She took his hand before he could slide completely out of contact with her. He looked back up at her with shocked eyes and his mouth ajar. It was not quite as gaping as she might have preferred, but it would do.

"I owed Jotaro a debt of honor from a few years back. It's hard to explain to make it sound serious, but back then I thought it would be the end of me. I prided myself on keeping perfect grades and a perfect behavior record." Rintaro furrowed his brow as he looked at their held hands. "Jotaro covered for me once, when he shouldn't have. I never expected him to take the heat that was mine. And so I look the other way once and a while when he asks me to."

Something stirred in Mayako's head as he told her his vague debt to Jotaro, someone who had plagued the existence of not only the school, but everyone in the Nerima ward. He had been expelled from the junior high they had all attended at the time, ruining his chances of entering any type of esteemed colleges. It had been a slight loss to Jotaro who probably would never get beyond preparatory colleges.

However, the loss would have been severe to Rintaro, who almost always scored insanely good grades and had high aspirations for college. He had managed to avoid many close calls with the authorities in the past for fighting, and other prankster activities that some would consider vandalism.

"I didn't think Seiko would have the guts to pull a blade on you, and even bring help once she lost. I didn't think, and I know I'm totally responsible for your pain." He grimaced, adding, "And Nishiyama-san's, too."

His clammy hand showed more emotion than his rock face, shaking ever so slightly as she reassuringly gripped it. "Rintaro, if you want to be with me, you have to look out for me before anything else. That means you have to think what's more important to you."

She gladly welcomed his half-smile and solemn nod.

"Now that we have that clear, go get me a drink, slave."

He barked a quick laugh and quickly obeyed.

---

We're at the halfway point! More coming soon.