Chapter 9

Panting for breath, Akane paused and groaned while trying to work the kinks out of her sore back. For some odd reason, Akane felt extremly restless and wanted to stay by Ranma's side but he had dissapeared. So she had decided to go look for him which is what she was doing now. Akane wished that she had stayed home and waited for him to return but since she had been determined to find him, she had set out to do so. Now she was regreting her decision since she was eight and a half months pregnant and could barely see her feet past the huge swell of her belly. Glancing around, she rested on a log for a moment as she waited to get her breath back, Akane wondered where Ranma had gone off too. "He had better get back soon. He promised to get me something to eat and there is no way I'm walking all the way over to the larder!" Akane thought while rubbing her huge distended stomach. Walking was extremely difficult for her since her belly was the size of a large beach ball. Akane didn't have anything or anyone to compare her pregnancy to so she just shrugged it off as being normal. Sudenly, Akane felt a thumping kick in her side and grunted, "Ugh!" Then, grinning she placed her hand on the spot as the baby kicked again and whispered, "Already you're practicing martial arts like your father. I just wish you would wait a little longer and not beat me up from the inside."


Giving her stomach one last pat she glanced around, getting her bearings she chose another well worn path and continued on her way. "I wonder what you'll be? I know Ranma would be happy to have a son. But, I don't think that he'll be dissapointed if you're a girl either." Akane headed off in the direction of the mango grove. "I...hope I find...him soon....*pant*...and when I do find that baka....*pant*... I'm going to pound him!" she thought, stepping over a large stone in the path.
She had been walking for a good twenty minutes and had reached the grove when suddenly, a noise was heard off to her left, Akane froze. The sound came again, this time it was much closer and she could detect the slight sounds of breathing.


Scanning her sourroundings, Akane gulped as a sudden shiver of aprehention worked its way down her spine. She didn't care for the feeling one bit and it made her nervious. She hoped that it wasn't a preditor since they had never found the animal that had tryied to attack her that first night on the island. They had assumed it dead, now she wasn't so sure that it had died. Spinning around in a circle, Akane crounched down and picked up a large branch just incase she would need to defend herself and waited. "Ranma...." she whispered while strainging for the slightest sound. Akane knew that if it really was Ranma, he would have announced his presance a while ago.

Movement on her blind side......

Akane whirrled, instinctivly swinging the branch, it connected with a thump....

A screaming roar echoed though the air and a lound crash over to her left....

Akane whirrled and saw an animal about the size of a large dog. It was crounched down, tail lashing the air, the animal let loose a loud screaming roar before it lept through the air. Akane screamed, "AAAAAAAAA!" as she despreatly tried to move out of its path. But, her ungainly body proved itself too slow and difficult to move out of the way fast enough. She had only taken three steps when she triped and fell heavily on her stomach. Akane screamed as shooting pain stabbed through her stomach. Despratly she grasped the stick tightly in her hand, she could hear the animal aproching. Then swinging blindly, she heard the crack as the branch connected with her target. Rolling over, Akane glanced towards the dazed animal and not waising any time screamed loudly, "RANMAAAAAAA!"

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Ranma's head snapped up as he heard Akane scream his name. "Akane!" he yelled suddenly scared for her welfare, he didn't like the sound of it and ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the area where her scream came from. Bursting though the heavy undergrowth, Ranma paused a split second, taking in the scene with amazing clarity. Akane, he saw was sitting up, clutching her stomach and panting heavily while pressing herself as close to one of the trees as possible. In front of her was a large animal intent on making her its next meal.


His mind working furiously, Ranma jumped in front of Akane and finally saw what the animal was. He shivered once as his fear spiked, there was a sudden audible snapping sound as he succumbed to the cat-fist. Ranma bared his teeth and hissed menacingly as the need to protect his mate and their unborn child overrode every thought of running away. The cat rose to its feet and screamed before launching itself through the air towards both of them. Ranma growled loudly while stretching out his arms, "Grrrrrr," and releasing the biggest ki blast he could produce. It hit the cat dead center and incinerated it into nothing but ashes. Finally, reason began to work its way back into the pigtailed boy's mind and he slumped while gasping for breath. He couldn't believe that he had just faced a cat and over come his fear with the aid of the cat-fist

Suddenly he heard a gasping moan of pain from behind him and whirling, Ranma quickly made his way to Akane's side. Kneeling down, he gently placed a hand on her stomach, "Are you alright, Akane?"

Akane opened her mouth to reply but gasped as a rippling sensation worked it's way around from her back towards the front of her stomach, she moaned in pain, clutching her stomach and screamed, "AAAAAAAA!"

"Akane! What's wrong!" Ranma practically screamed in worry.

"The...the baby....it's coming!" she panted for breath, fear shown in her eyes. "I...," another contraction hit, doubling her up and moaning Akane reached out and clutched his hand.

Eyes widening in panic, Ranma tried to remain calm but was having little success in keeping his emotions contained. Quickly, he scooping her up into his arms, he ran as fast as his burden allowed, back towards their home. Suddenly, Akane felt a gush of warm fluid from between her legs and yelped, "Hurry, Ranma! I think my water just broke!" Ranma nodded and ran faster, he could see the roof of their home just a little way off. Once it came into site, he leaped onto the porch and hurried into their home, gently he placed Akane down on the bedding. Then, leaping into action, Ranma quickly got a pot of water boiling. He knew that this was important since Akane had told him what to do a few weeks ago and had made him recite it until he got it right. After a few stops and starts, Ranma finally got everything ready before running back into the hut. Akane glanced up gasping as another contraction hit as he knelt by her side, "Ooooh! It hurts!"

"Here," Ranma murmured while running his hands over her back, he quickly struck a few pressure points to ease the pain. "How's that?"

Akane blinked as the pain eased slightly and replied, "B...better."

"Good," he grunted and relaxed slightly. "Try to get some rest, ok?"

Nodding her head, Akane closed her eyes and rested between each contraction. After an hour of rest, her contractions sped up until they were one minute apart. Now, Akane knew, was the time to push. Suiting actions to thoughts, Akane pushed for all her worth. Ranma by her side, assisted as best he could, wiping her brow with a cool cloth, giving her water when she needed it and bracing her against his chest as she pushed. Akane's labor went well into the night and into early morning the next day.

The peacefulness of the still morning air was shattered as Akane gave one loud wailing scream and fainted. Ranma quickly, made his way around her and saw the two twin bundles lying on the mat. Quickly, he cleaned out their airways, washed them and then bundled them up before checking on his wife. Akane was fine, he was relieved to note that she had just passed out from exhaustion. Ranma was tired too, but he quickly noted that he had a son and a daughter while crawling over towards Akane's side, a child in each arm. "I hope they don't have my curse," he thought before passing out himself.

Ranma awoke two hours later to the wailing cries of his newborn children. Grumbling, he quickly rolled over towards them and picking them up, he brought them towards Akane. Placing each into her arms, Ranma woke her up gently, "Akane, something's wrong with them."

Akane opened her eyes wearily and glancing towards her babies, she smiled. "Ranma?"

"What?"

"Could you untie my top, please.....the babies are hungry," Akane replied while trying to hide a wince of pain. Her breasts ached fiercely and throbbed with each wailing cry of her children.

Blushing, Ranma complied and then watched in wonder as Akane fed both their children. "What are we going to name them?" he asked curiously.

"I was thinking, Tenma, if I had a boy and Kamiko, after my mother, if I had a girl," Akane replied while gently rubbing her cheek over one of the babies heads.

"Well, we can use both of the names since we have a boy and a girl."

"Oh, Ranma..." Akane sighed as tears of happiness made their way down her face.

Reaching out a hand, Ranma gently caressed the soft down of both his children's head, his eyes reflecting the untold love he felt for both. "Akane?"

"Hmm."

"I love you."

Akane smile lit up her eyes as she replied, "I love you too, Ranma."

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Stopping for a minute to take a well deserved rest, Ryoga figured that it had been three years of non stop traveling since he had last seen Akane and Ranma. He couldn't believe the weird things that he had seen. Ryoga remembered one of the places that he had visited in which there was this small flat-chested sorceress who loved to throw fireballs. In another place he had managed to loose himself in was this weird place where people had pointed ears...."Now that place was strange!" he muttered quietly to himself before taking stock of his surroundings. Suddenly, the lost boy heard a loud wailing sound and glanced around. What he saw was a familiar looking sign that said 'Welcome to the Tendo doujou, all challengers must enter through the back gate.' "Finally, I've made it!" he yelled before opening the gate and walking though. As Ryoga entered the Tendo yard, he thought about how much his friends had changed. Akane, he realized, had much longer hair and a tan to match. While Ranma looked a little taller and had increased in muscle density. They didn't look depressed and from what he remembered seeing, they looked like they didn't have a care in the world. His musings were interrupted by a gentle voice.

"Oh my, hello Ryoga."

Looking up, Ryoga saw Kasumi standing over a laundry basket full of clothing. It looked like she was in the middle of hanging them up to dry. "Kasumi! I have great news!"

"Really?"

"Yes, but you have to get everyone to hear this!" he replied anxiously.

"All right," Kasumi replied, turning, she headed into the house calling for everyone.

When the two families were gathered around the table, Ryoga told them what he had just seen. Soun began wailing, "Akane! My baby! She's alive!"

Genma grinned and shouted, "Yes!" Standing, he started dancing and around waiving flags in the air, "Their alive! Now, our schools will finally be joined!"

"Alright!" Nabiki screamed as a huge grin worked its way onto her lips. Now we have to get the search and rescue team to find them!" Looking over in Ryoga's direction, Nabiki asked, "Ryoga, did you get a chance to talk to them? Did you notice anything wrong with them?"

Ryoga scratched his head and replied, "Um, no."

Nabiki blinked and then realized that in her excitement, she had forgotten about the lost boys' directional problem and cursed, "Shit! You lost them, didn't you?" Ryoga nodded and Nabiki started muttering under her breath, Of all the stupid idiotic..Now we'll never find them! her voice faded as she left the room.

Ryoga grinned embarrassed and replied softly, "They sure did look happy though..."

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