Shattered Dreams
A Ranma ½ fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
And some guy named Steve
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!).
A WORD FROM TANGENT: In the previous chapter, Ryoga had struck down Ranma-chan from behind while her attention was on Akane. Akane, in a burst of strength born of terror, rage, adrenaline, and her innate (but not yet consciously realized) ki, prevented the lost-boy from striking the final blow. The police arrived, along with an ambulance, to investigate the matter and take statements.
And, throughout it all, a young woman, one Nabiki Tendo by name, has been forced to recognize the darker side of her own human nature. Not liking what she sees as the logical extension of her own petty behavior, and fearing for her own family's safety, Nabiki decides to take steps to rectify her life in a more positive manner. She has resolved to pick up her training in the Tendo Ryu of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts once more, so she can better defend her family, herself, and her interests. She is also considering a career in law enforcement.
She believes that she has found her calling in life.
She has also found a little black pig…
CHAPTER TWO: Forced Visions
Ranma-chan looked up at Akane from where she lay on the gurney. The paramedics had secured her to a backboard, just in case her spine was damaged, and were busy poking this or that, to see if she lost any sensation in her limbs.
"Ow!" Ranma gasped as she spasmed… or tried to anyway. The backboard was doing its job.
"Yes, I…" Ranma gasped through the breathing apparatus. She had difficulty breathing after Ryoga's last strike on her back, and there was some worry that her left lung might have collapsed. The pure oxygen that the mask was feeding her was supposed to help her other lung compensate for the extra work. Unfortunately, it was also making her throat feel kind of raw. "I feel… my toes… Damn it! Stop… pinching them! It… hurts!"
Ranma still felt like her body below where Ryoga had struck her spine had been dipped in fire and ice, and every little thing seemed to be more sensitive to pain than normal because of it. Her breathing was still ragged from when the force of the second blow had driven the air from her lungs, but she was slowly getting her breath back, as painful as it was. She looked at Akane gratefully as the girl took her hand... the one that she could feel anyway.
She still couldn't feel her left arm at all, and that scared her. Possibly even more than the back injury did, as bad as it was itself. If she could still feel things, no matter how painfully, she felt that the injury was one she could recover from, but to lose all sensation in a limb? That was bad. Very bad.
"Thanks… Akane," Ranma-chan managed a small smile, despite her fear and pain. "You… really came… through for me… back there." She was rewarded with an embarrassed blush from her fiancée, who turned her head away for a moment.
Akane brought her gaze back to the girl who was really the boy she was engaged to marry. No longer did that seem so bad, and she began to think that it never really was. Just her own stubborn pride refusing to acknowledge that her heart had already been taking a risk for a while now. After all, why else would she have gotten so angry with him before, if she really didn't care. She never gave him a chance after the betrayal she felt when he turned out to be a boy after all. New tears formed in her eyes as she thought back on all the times he attempted, in his own clumsy way, to apologize or be nice to her, only to be cruelly rebuffed for his efforts. No wonder he always ended up teasing her - she never let him do anything else.
Ranma-chan gazed worriedly at Akane's tear streaked face, and tightened her grip on her hand in what she hoped was a comforting manner. Regardless of her own fears about her condition, she had to be as strong as she could, for Akane's sake.
"Ow!" Ranma-chan glared at the paramedic by her feet. "I said… stop it… already! That hurts!"
* * *
Nabiki stepped out of the police car tiredly. For a while, she had thought that the questions would never stop, and she had wondered idly if she was going to be recommended for psychiatric care. The irony being that for once she had told the complete, unembellished truth as far as she knew it. If so, then so be it. She would weather this storm as she had others in her life. Fortunately, there were enough other eye witnesses to the fight to provide some validity to her statements, and a demonstration of Mr. Saotome's curse would provide the rest of the proof that she needed.
Wearily walking past the front gates and through the yard, Nabiki cuddled the small black piglet she had found earlier for what comfort it could provide her. No one at the scene had claimed it, much to her relief, so she had decided to bring it home with her when the police offered her a ride to her home. She accepted, knowing that they would have driven to her house anyway, as they needed to inform Ranma's father about what had happened. Besides, she didn't trust the man to think beyond his own selfishness, even with his only son in the hospital.
She took off her shoes in the genkan as she entered the house and motioned the Officers to follow suit. Rather than head upstairs immediately to change out of her school uniform, she led the way to the kitchen where she expected to find Kasumi.
Kasumi hummed happily in her little sanctuary that was the Tendo kitchen. Here the cares of the world just seemed to slip away in the comforting rituals of caring for her family's welfare. Not that this was her only refuge, as she largely took care of the whole estate, with a little assistance from the rest of her family from time to time, but the kitchen was where she could remember Mother the best - painlessly and with memories of joy rather than sadness.
She wondered for a moment what had brought Mother to her mind this time, and her heart grew heavy. Somehow she knew, even before she turned around to greet her sister, that something bad had happened. The expression on Nabiki's face was one that she had only seen once before, as much as her sister was trying to hide it. The Police Officers accompanying her only added emphasis to her growing alarm. Quickly setting aside what she had been doing, she rushed over to her sister, gathering her in a comforting embrace.
"Oh, Nabiki, what's wrong?" Kasumi asked, as various possibilities ran through her mind. It hadn't escaped her notice that two people were missing from this scene. "Where are Ranma and Akane? Are they all right? Did something…"
Nabiki fought back her emotions for as long as she could, but it proved to be too much after what she had witnessed and the statement that she had given the police already. She finally lost all control and began sobbing, holding Kasumi tightly (and eliciting an uncomfortable, but somehow resigned squeal from the little black piglet caught between them). She had witnessed many fights before, and some of them had resulted in injury before, but not like this… It had never been someone that she, kind of, cared for. It had never been this bad either. Now Ranma was being rushed to the hospital in a back-brace, not to mention the breathing apparatus that she saw them put on the neo-girl. Nabiki wasn't anyone's fool, the martial arts moves that could cause such damage might still prove fatal for her little sister's fiancé.
Kasumi's heart grew cold and filled with grief as Nabiki sobbed into her shoulder. Old emotional wounds were torn wide open as she realized that either Ranma or Akane, if not both, were terribly hurt, or possibly…
She couldn't even bring herself to think of that possibility.
"Go get changed," Kasumi instructed. "I'll take these nice Officers in to meet Father and Uncle Saotome. When you're done, we'll be in the family room."
Nabiki entered her room and set the little black pig on the floor as she began to change out of her school uniform. Ryoga-buta, for his part, turned discretely away from the girl who had picked him up back at the second field of Furinkan High. He had felt more and more shame as he had listened through the girl's… Nabiki's… account to the police, and more so when he witnessed her emotional breakdown with her older sister. He, in a single act of mindless aggression, had destroyed not only Ranma's happiness, but that of this innocent family as well.
"I deserve to be a pig," Ryoga proclaimed - or tried to, anyway. It came out more like: "Bwee!" No matter, it was all the closer to what he felt was his self-imposed punishment allowed, anyway. Yes, he would be a pig until -
"Oh, did you find something little guy?" Nabiki asked, seeing that the piglet was facing the bottom most drawer of her desk. The piglet turned to look at her when she spoke, but turned back right away, so she guessed that he had found something. It never occurred to her that he had turned to avoid a nose-bleed form seeing her in her underwear. "Well, you found me out! I do have some sweets stashed in there. I'll get you one in a moment."
Ryoga, for his part, was just glad for an excuse, even if he was only a pig. Now that the girl mentioned it though, he could smell candy from the drawer in question. Despite himself, he was looking forward to the treat. Besides, he hadn't really eaten all day…
* * *
Ranma tried not to acknowledge the pain that she felt when they transferred her back to the gurney from the x-ray table, but a whimper escaped her regardless of her efforts. Akane was no longer at her side, having been taken to what would be Ranma's room at the hospital and told to wait there. On the plus side, the breathing mask had been taken away once it was determined that she was breathing fine on her own - Ryoga had knocked the wind out of her, not collapsed her lung after all. Although his last punch had also caused her to lose all feeling in her left arm…
Anyway, the x-rays were done, for which Ranma was quite grateful. Seeing as she hadn't been in a hospital since… since… well, she couldn't remember when the last time was, if ever. Because of this, and the possible extent of her injuries (they added head-wound to the list when she started insisting that she was a guy), they wanted to conduct a full series. That meant that Ranma had to endure being repositioned and rolled carefully to one side and then the other, as well as face down and up. Even with the extreme care that they took, it hurt each time, and Ranma was approaching her limits, beginning to whimper while fighting back pain-filled tears.
* * *
Akane was waiting, sick with worry, in the hospital room that Ranma was going to be brought to. It wasn't fair, really, that it took something like this to bring down the barriers that they had placed between themselves and their relationship. Most of which, she had to admit as she thought back on it, were her fault. Every time Ranma had tried to open up around her, she had taken it wrong and punished him for it. For all intents and purposes she had been, in effect, training him to be a perpetual jerk as far as she was concerned. Akane tried to envision what their relationship would be like in the future if this incident hadn't opened her eyes, and what she saw made her break down in tears.
Akane saw a future where they argued over every little thing because she couldn't bring herself to trust Ranma. One in which every attempt of kindness on Ranma's part was misconstrued and punished, until he stopped trying altogether, and just teased her because she was going to hit him anyway, no matter what he did. A future in which one or the other would become downright abusive to the other, if they both didn't end up that way.
"Oh, Kami-sama, why did it have to take this to make me see what I was doing to us?" Akane beseeched the heavens. "Why did Ranma have to be hurt so badly in order for me to open my eyes? Why did he have to be hurt at all?" She tried to picture a life without Ranma, and saw nothing but loneliness and despair. And then she knew.
Akane Tendo finally knew, beyond all doubt, that she loved Ranma Saotome. That part of her cruelty towards him was an attempt to hide this fact from even herself. And she cried all the harder for it.
* * *
Genma Saotome stood ramrod straight as Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, and he rode the elevator up to the floor that Ranma was on. His face was an expressionless mask, hiding his inner turmoil at the news he had received from the officers that had brought Nabiki home. Ranma was hurt, who knew how badly, having been viscously attacked from behind while he was insuring that Akane was safe and uninjured. A tactical blunder against a foe without honor, but an understandable one. Ranma was only sixteen, hardly old enough to have acquired a truly deadly enemy, but apparently he had one after all. One whom he had thought was a friend, and thus all the more dangerous in the end.
For the life of him, Genma couldn't remember whether he had ever been involved in trouble with any Hibiki Clan. If so, then this was something out of his own past that harmed his son. He hoped not, as he had done enough direct damage to his son over the years without it being done indirectly due to old vendettas that he had forgotten or never knew about. As he thought back, he catalogued many instances where he had failed as a father, even in his own eyes.
Genma Saotome had no idea what to do about this situation, so he fell back on old habits and tried putting it out of his mind…
* * *
Akane set the hot tea down carefully after taking a sip to soothe her nerves. A short while ago Ranma had been brought into the room that she would be staying in while she was in the hospital. Akane's heart quavered at the whimpers that escaped her beloved's lips when they transferred her from the gurney to her bed. Ranma's pride was great, and for even those small sounds of pain to escape her meant that the pain that she was experiencing must be terrible.
At the moment though, all Akane could focus on was the bickering that Ranma was going through with some of the hospital staff.
"I am a guy!" insisted the decidedly non-male patient with an unfortunately cute pout on her face. "I only look like a girl because of my curse!"
"I'm sure that you believe that," stated an officious looking man patronizingly, "but evidence indicates that you are a girl. You don't have any of the right physiology for a member of the male gender, and all the right parts for a female. Ergo, you are a girl." He was an officious middle management type of the old school of thought that held that women should mind their place in the world. To him, it was bad enough that he was forced to put up with female doctors in his hospital, and nurses that he couldn't get 'familiar' with. Some little slip of a girl patient who insisted that she was actually a boy was just going to have her delusion nipped right in the bud!
Doctor Kaze, one of the very same female doctors that the man detested so, shared an irritated glance with the accompanying nurse. Telling a patient with serious injuries to her face that she was delusional was not particularly recommended, especially in such a confrontational manner.
"There's part of your problem right there!" Ranma seethed. "My name ain't Ergo, it's Ranma. You must be in the wrong room!" The stuffy official facefaulted while Akane giggled. Both doctor and nurse smirked and the nurse covered her mouth with her hands in an attempt to avoid laughing out loud.
"What's going on?" asked Genma, who entered the room, followed by Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun (the little black pig had been left in a box in the dojo with some fresh vegetables and a bowl of water).
"This jerk wants to have my records altered to say that I'm some girl named Ergo!" Ranma-chan snapped angrily, glaring at the sputtering, red-faced official. This time, it was Dr. Kaze and the nurse who facefaulted, realizing that the girl was serious about the 'Ergo' bit. Akane just shook her head and calmed down.
"Easily solved," Genma stated, approaching Ranma's bed. He was stopped by Nabiki, who gave him a 'what kind of idiot are you' look through her half-lidded eyes. Genma sighed in resignation, having already been through this, having lost an argument with the girl about showing his curse to the police earlier. He really didn't want to demonstrate his own curse to so many important people twice in one day, but there was no help for it, he supposed. He put those thoughts aside, leaving the room briefly and returning with a paper cup full of water. He approached the doctor and the official, straightened up to his full posture, and dumped the water over his own head.
Unfortunately, he had failed to consider the increase in bulk that he gained when he became a panda. The sudden appearance of the massive beast jarred the rolling tray that Akane's hot tea was resting on. Hot tea that spilled all over Ranma.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!"
Ranma's scream as he suddenly increased in size while still bound in a constricting back-brace rattled the windows. Everyone displayed a panicked expression as Ranma writhed in agony, the grip of his one working hand crushing the railing on the right side of the bed.
Nabiki, thinking quickly, grabbed the empty paper cup out of the panda's paws, and ran out of the room for more cold water from the drinking fountain. She rushed back in, fairly tossing the contents upon Ranma in hopes of relieving her future brother-in-law's pain.
The scream resulting from Ranma-chan's spine contorting once more not only rattled the window again, it cracked, and then shattered all of the glass in the room. Ranma-chan's eyes were wide and dilated with shock for a moment before she stopped screaming, and then they relaxed shut as the rest of her body slumped limply back onto the bed.
The paper cup dropped from Nabiki's pale, numb fingers and rolled across the floor…
END CHAPTER TWO
OMAKI THEATER PRESENTS: Yen-chan's Body Double
Nabiki fought back her emotions for as long as she could, but it proved to be too much after what she had witnessed and the statement that she had given the police already. She finally lost all control and began sobbing, holding Kasumi tightly (and eliciting an uncomfortable, but somehow resigned "Hotcha!" from the little… black…
"Eeek! Pervert!" Kasumi screamed, seconded by Nabiki's cry of "Hentai!" As one, they separated, and a small figure dropped from where he had been nestled between their bosoms.
"What?" asked Happosai with false remorse, "can't an old man have any fun?"
A Ranma ½ fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
And some guy named Steve
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!).
A WORD FROM TANGENT: In the previous chapter, Ryoga had struck down Ranma-chan from behind while her attention was on Akane. Akane, in a burst of strength born of terror, rage, adrenaline, and her innate (but not yet consciously realized) ki, prevented the lost-boy from striking the final blow. The police arrived, along with an ambulance, to investigate the matter and take statements.
And, throughout it all, a young woman, one Nabiki Tendo by name, has been forced to recognize the darker side of her own human nature. Not liking what she sees as the logical extension of her own petty behavior, and fearing for her own family's safety, Nabiki decides to take steps to rectify her life in a more positive manner. She has resolved to pick up her training in the Tendo Ryu of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts once more, so she can better defend her family, herself, and her interests. She is also considering a career in law enforcement.
She believes that she has found her calling in life.
She has also found a little black pig…
CHAPTER TWO: Forced Visions
Ranma-chan looked up at Akane from where she lay on the gurney. The paramedics had secured her to a backboard, just in case her spine was damaged, and were busy poking this or that, to see if she lost any sensation in her limbs.
"Ow!" Ranma gasped as she spasmed… or tried to anyway. The backboard was doing its job.
"Yes, I…" Ranma gasped through the breathing apparatus. She had difficulty breathing after Ryoga's last strike on her back, and there was some worry that her left lung might have collapsed. The pure oxygen that the mask was feeding her was supposed to help her other lung compensate for the extra work. Unfortunately, it was also making her throat feel kind of raw. "I feel… my toes… Damn it! Stop… pinching them! It… hurts!"
Ranma still felt like her body below where Ryoga had struck her spine had been dipped in fire and ice, and every little thing seemed to be more sensitive to pain than normal because of it. Her breathing was still ragged from when the force of the second blow had driven the air from her lungs, but she was slowly getting her breath back, as painful as it was. She looked at Akane gratefully as the girl took her hand... the one that she could feel anyway.
She still couldn't feel her left arm at all, and that scared her. Possibly even more than the back injury did, as bad as it was itself. If she could still feel things, no matter how painfully, she felt that the injury was one she could recover from, but to lose all sensation in a limb? That was bad. Very bad.
"Thanks… Akane," Ranma-chan managed a small smile, despite her fear and pain. "You… really came… through for me… back there." She was rewarded with an embarrassed blush from her fiancée, who turned her head away for a moment.
Akane brought her gaze back to the girl who was really the boy she was engaged to marry. No longer did that seem so bad, and she began to think that it never really was. Just her own stubborn pride refusing to acknowledge that her heart had already been taking a risk for a while now. After all, why else would she have gotten so angry with him before, if she really didn't care. She never gave him a chance after the betrayal she felt when he turned out to be a boy after all. New tears formed in her eyes as she thought back on all the times he attempted, in his own clumsy way, to apologize or be nice to her, only to be cruelly rebuffed for his efforts. No wonder he always ended up teasing her - she never let him do anything else.
Ranma-chan gazed worriedly at Akane's tear streaked face, and tightened her grip on her hand in what she hoped was a comforting manner. Regardless of her own fears about her condition, she had to be as strong as she could, for Akane's sake.
"Ow!" Ranma-chan glared at the paramedic by her feet. "I said… stop it… already! That hurts!"
* * *
Nabiki stepped out of the police car tiredly. For a while, she had thought that the questions would never stop, and she had wondered idly if she was going to be recommended for psychiatric care. The irony being that for once she had told the complete, unembellished truth as far as she knew it. If so, then so be it. She would weather this storm as she had others in her life. Fortunately, there were enough other eye witnesses to the fight to provide some validity to her statements, and a demonstration of Mr. Saotome's curse would provide the rest of the proof that she needed.
Wearily walking past the front gates and through the yard, Nabiki cuddled the small black piglet she had found earlier for what comfort it could provide her. No one at the scene had claimed it, much to her relief, so she had decided to bring it home with her when the police offered her a ride to her home. She accepted, knowing that they would have driven to her house anyway, as they needed to inform Ranma's father about what had happened. Besides, she didn't trust the man to think beyond his own selfishness, even with his only son in the hospital.
She took off her shoes in the genkan as she entered the house and motioned the Officers to follow suit. Rather than head upstairs immediately to change out of her school uniform, she led the way to the kitchen where she expected to find Kasumi.
Kasumi hummed happily in her little sanctuary that was the Tendo kitchen. Here the cares of the world just seemed to slip away in the comforting rituals of caring for her family's welfare. Not that this was her only refuge, as she largely took care of the whole estate, with a little assistance from the rest of her family from time to time, but the kitchen was where she could remember Mother the best - painlessly and with memories of joy rather than sadness.
She wondered for a moment what had brought Mother to her mind this time, and her heart grew heavy. Somehow she knew, even before she turned around to greet her sister, that something bad had happened. The expression on Nabiki's face was one that she had only seen once before, as much as her sister was trying to hide it. The Police Officers accompanying her only added emphasis to her growing alarm. Quickly setting aside what she had been doing, she rushed over to her sister, gathering her in a comforting embrace.
"Oh, Nabiki, what's wrong?" Kasumi asked, as various possibilities ran through her mind. It hadn't escaped her notice that two people were missing from this scene. "Where are Ranma and Akane? Are they all right? Did something…"
Nabiki fought back her emotions for as long as she could, but it proved to be too much after what she had witnessed and the statement that she had given the police already. She finally lost all control and began sobbing, holding Kasumi tightly (and eliciting an uncomfortable, but somehow resigned squeal from the little black piglet caught between them). She had witnessed many fights before, and some of them had resulted in injury before, but not like this… It had never been someone that she, kind of, cared for. It had never been this bad either. Now Ranma was being rushed to the hospital in a back-brace, not to mention the breathing apparatus that she saw them put on the neo-girl. Nabiki wasn't anyone's fool, the martial arts moves that could cause such damage might still prove fatal for her little sister's fiancé.
Kasumi's heart grew cold and filled with grief as Nabiki sobbed into her shoulder. Old emotional wounds were torn wide open as she realized that either Ranma or Akane, if not both, were terribly hurt, or possibly…
She couldn't even bring herself to think of that possibility.
"Go get changed," Kasumi instructed. "I'll take these nice Officers in to meet Father and Uncle Saotome. When you're done, we'll be in the family room."
Nabiki entered her room and set the little black pig on the floor as she began to change out of her school uniform. Ryoga-buta, for his part, turned discretely away from the girl who had picked him up back at the second field of Furinkan High. He had felt more and more shame as he had listened through the girl's… Nabiki's… account to the police, and more so when he witnessed her emotional breakdown with her older sister. He, in a single act of mindless aggression, had destroyed not only Ranma's happiness, but that of this innocent family as well.
"I deserve to be a pig," Ryoga proclaimed - or tried to, anyway. It came out more like: "Bwee!" No matter, it was all the closer to what he felt was his self-imposed punishment allowed, anyway. Yes, he would be a pig until -
"Oh, did you find something little guy?" Nabiki asked, seeing that the piglet was facing the bottom most drawer of her desk. The piglet turned to look at her when she spoke, but turned back right away, so she guessed that he had found something. It never occurred to her that he had turned to avoid a nose-bleed form seeing her in her underwear. "Well, you found me out! I do have some sweets stashed in there. I'll get you one in a moment."
Ryoga, for his part, was just glad for an excuse, even if he was only a pig. Now that the girl mentioned it though, he could smell candy from the drawer in question. Despite himself, he was looking forward to the treat. Besides, he hadn't really eaten all day…
* * *
Ranma tried not to acknowledge the pain that she felt when they transferred her back to the gurney from the x-ray table, but a whimper escaped her regardless of her efforts. Akane was no longer at her side, having been taken to what would be Ranma's room at the hospital and told to wait there. On the plus side, the breathing mask had been taken away once it was determined that she was breathing fine on her own - Ryoga had knocked the wind out of her, not collapsed her lung after all. Although his last punch had also caused her to lose all feeling in her left arm…
Anyway, the x-rays were done, for which Ranma was quite grateful. Seeing as she hadn't been in a hospital since… since… well, she couldn't remember when the last time was, if ever. Because of this, and the possible extent of her injuries (they added head-wound to the list when she started insisting that she was a guy), they wanted to conduct a full series. That meant that Ranma had to endure being repositioned and rolled carefully to one side and then the other, as well as face down and up. Even with the extreme care that they took, it hurt each time, and Ranma was approaching her limits, beginning to whimper while fighting back pain-filled tears.
* * *
Akane was waiting, sick with worry, in the hospital room that Ranma was going to be brought to. It wasn't fair, really, that it took something like this to bring down the barriers that they had placed between themselves and their relationship. Most of which, she had to admit as she thought back on it, were her fault. Every time Ranma had tried to open up around her, she had taken it wrong and punished him for it. For all intents and purposes she had been, in effect, training him to be a perpetual jerk as far as she was concerned. Akane tried to envision what their relationship would be like in the future if this incident hadn't opened her eyes, and what she saw made her break down in tears.
Akane saw a future where they argued over every little thing because she couldn't bring herself to trust Ranma. One in which every attempt of kindness on Ranma's part was misconstrued and punished, until he stopped trying altogether, and just teased her because she was going to hit him anyway, no matter what he did. A future in which one or the other would become downright abusive to the other, if they both didn't end up that way.
"Oh, Kami-sama, why did it have to take this to make me see what I was doing to us?" Akane beseeched the heavens. "Why did Ranma have to be hurt so badly in order for me to open my eyes? Why did he have to be hurt at all?" She tried to picture a life without Ranma, and saw nothing but loneliness and despair. And then she knew.
Akane Tendo finally knew, beyond all doubt, that she loved Ranma Saotome. That part of her cruelty towards him was an attempt to hide this fact from even herself. And she cried all the harder for it.
* * *
Genma Saotome stood ramrod straight as Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, and he rode the elevator up to the floor that Ranma was on. His face was an expressionless mask, hiding his inner turmoil at the news he had received from the officers that had brought Nabiki home. Ranma was hurt, who knew how badly, having been viscously attacked from behind while he was insuring that Akane was safe and uninjured. A tactical blunder against a foe without honor, but an understandable one. Ranma was only sixteen, hardly old enough to have acquired a truly deadly enemy, but apparently he had one after all. One whom he had thought was a friend, and thus all the more dangerous in the end.
For the life of him, Genma couldn't remember whether he had ever been involved in trouble with any Hibiki Clan. If so, then this was something out of his own past that harmed his son. He hoped not, as he had done enough direct damage to his son over the years without it being done indirectly due to old vendettas that he had forgotten or never knew about. As he thought back, he catalogued many instances where he had failed as a father, even in his own eyes.
Genma Saotome had no idea what to do about this situation, so he fell back on old habits and tried putting it out of his mind…
* * *
Akane set the hot tea down carefully after taking a sip to soothe her nerves. A short while ago Ranma had been brought into the room that she would be staying in while she was in the hospital. Akane's heart quavered at the whimpers that escaped her beloved's lips when they transferred her from the gurney to her bed. Ranma's pride was great, and for even those small sounds of pain to escape her meant that the pain that she was experiencing must be terrible.
At the moment though, all Akane could focus on was the bickering that Ranma was going through with some of the hospital staff.
"I am a guy!" insisted the decidedly non-male patient with an unfortunately cute pout on her face. "I only look like a girl because of my curse!"
"I'm sure that you believe that," stated an officious looking man patronizingly, "but evidence indicates that you are a girl. You don't have any of the right physiology for a member of the male gender, and all the right parts for a female. Ergo, you are a girl." He was an officious middle management type of the old school of thought that held that women should mind their place in the world. To him, it was bad enough that he was forced to put up with female doctors in his hospital, and nurses that he couldn't get 'familiar' with. Some little slip of a girl patient who insisted that she was actually a boy was just going to have her delusion nipped right in the bud!
Doctor Kaze, one of the very same female doctors that the man detested so, shared an irritated glance with the accompanying nurse. Telling a patient with serious injuries to her face that she was delusional was not particularly recommended, especially in such a confrontational manner.
"There's part of your problem right there!" Ranma seethed. "My name ain't Ergo, it's Ranma. You must be in the wrong room!" The stuffy official facefaulted while Akane giggled. Both doctor and nurse smirked and the nurse covered her mouth with her hands in an attempt to avoid laughing out loud.
"What's going on?" asked Genma, who entered the room, followed by Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun (the little black pig had been left in a box in the dojo with some fresh vegetables and a bowl of water).
"This jerk wants to have my records altered to say that I'm some girl named Ergo!" Ranma-chan snapped angrily, glaring at the sputtering, red-faced official. This time, it was Dr. Kaze and the nurse who facefaulted, realizing that the girl was serious about the 'Ergo' bit. Akane just shook her head and calmed down.
"Easily solved," Genma stated, approaching Ranma's bed. He was stopped by Nabiki, who gave him a 'what kind of idiot are you' look through her half-lidded eyes. Genma sighed in resignation, having already been through this, having lost an argument with the girl about showing his curse to the police earlier. He really didn't want to demonstrate his own curse to so many important people twice in one day, but there was no help for it, he supposed. He put those thoughts aside, leaving the room briefly and returning with a paper cup full of water. He approached the doctor and the official, straightened up to his full posture, and dumped the water over his own head.
Unfortunately, he had failed to consider the increase in bulk that he gained when he became a panda. The sudden appearance of the massive beast jarred the rolling tray that Akane's hot tea was resting on. Hot tea that spilled all over Ranma.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!"
Ranma's scream as he suddenly increased in size while still bound in a constricting back-brace rattled the windows. Everyone displayed a panicked expression as Ranma writhed in agony, the grip of his one working hand crushing the railing on the right side of the bed.
Nabiki, thinking quickly, grabbed the empty paper cup out of the panda's paws, and ran out of the room for more cold water from the drinking fountain. She rushed back in, fairly tossing the contents upon Ranma in hopes of relieving her future brother-in-law's pain.
The scream resulting from Ranma-chan's spine contorting once more not only rattled the window again, it cracked, and then shattered all of the glass in the room. Ranma-chan's eyes were wide and dilated with shock for a moment before she stopped screaming, and then they relaxed shut as the rest of her body slumped limply back onto the bed.
The paper cup dropped from Nabiki's pale, numb fingers and rolled across the floor…
END CHAPTER TWO
OMAKI THEATER PRESENTS: Yen-chan's Body Double
Nabiki fought back her emotions for as long as she could, but it proved to be too much after what she had witnessed and the statement that she had given the police already. She finally lost all control and began sobbing, holding Kasumi tightly (and eliciting an uncomfortable, but somehow resigned "Hotcha!" from the little… black…
"Eeek! Pervert!" Kasumi screamed, seconded by Nabiki's cry of "Hentai!" As one, they separated, and a small figure dropped from where he had been nestled between their bosoms.
"What?" asked Happosai with false remorse, "can't an old man have any fun?"
