Chapter 10 – The Dying of the Light

Nabiki stepped down on the brakes as she heart Ranma' shout. Her eyes were on the rear view mirror as she stared at the figure running behind them and her foot was down hard on the brake pedal when she realized that the car was not slowing down. She stamped down with all her might but the car just reared forward. The speedometer rose and Akane's eyes were transfixed on it.

"Nabiki," was the only word she breathed in the seconds that determined whether she would live or die.

There would be a wall on the left, a house upfront as the road swerved to the right and there, she would find the main road. Nabiki's mind raced as she calculated her options. Her knuckles whitened and she gripped the steering wheel and turned it with everything that she had. She had to find a way to stop that car. She had to, there would be no control if she ended up on the hectic main, there would be no way out.

Ranma froze as the car skidded out of control. He could see Nabiki fighting for control, he could see Akane turn away from the window and shout something at Nabiki. The tyres screeched as the mechanics fought Nabiki's hold on the wheel. And then it was too late; both girls knew it when they heard the horn blaring. The driver of the oncoming truck braked but then he knew that there was nothing to do as his truck went straight for the skidding car. Ranma watched the braking truck and the out of control car, he saw the exact moment Akane's training gave her supernatural speed. His eyes followed each of her moves as she tore off her seatbelt and pushed her sister's legs up on her seat, grabbed Nabiki's head and pushed it between her knees before her body covered her sister's. And then the truck rammed into the car, pushing it back, driving it into the wall behind it. The car's booth and front both crushed up and Akane felt metal step down against her back and press down like a giant foot. She felt something tearing her skin, red hot pain exploded in her back and ate her up whole and then blessedly, darkness overcame everything. Ranma stared and could only think that Akane had thought fast, had reacted fast, even before the truck touched the car. And then there was the scream of crunching metal as the car was crushed up between the wall and the truck. And silence. The silence of death followed. Everything stopped, time stopped, Ranma's breathing stopped.

Ukyo froze before the Tendos' house.

And then Ranma was running, running like he had never run in his life. Running to her. His body met the crushed car and his hands searched for the door's handle, found it and yanked. Yanked again with all his strength. It creaked and then somebody was grabbing his arms shouting, "Ranchan!" But his mind never registered it.

All he knew was that someone was trying to stop him from reaching Akane. He lifted one arm and snapped it back in a quick cut. The hit connected and Ukyo went flying backwards, hitting the road with a thump. People started shouting. Soun and Genma came running. Both grabbed Ranma, trying to hold him back, trying to stop him with everything they had even as he threw them off. And they knew he wouldn't be stopped.

"You're going to hurt Akane!," Soun screamed at Ranma. And then it registered. He was going to hurt her. But she was already hurt. His brain registered the blood all over Akane's back as she lay sprawled over Nabiki. Much of it was trickling down Nabiki's head as it lay against Akane's cheek and her arms were around Akane. She must have thrown back her head Ranma realized. Both had tried to protect the other. Ranma's thoughts tumbled over each other and finally the fog lifted and he saw Akane's bloody body. And the pain killed him and he fell to his knees in the middle of the road and howled. Howled like a wounded animal, howled like a dying beast. And people stepped back from the crying man, stepped back from his pain, stepped back from the curse he shrieked to the skies.

Ukyo stared at the demented man in front of her and wondered who he was. Where was her Ranchan?

It took the firemen two hours to manage to pull Akane and Nabiki out of the wreckage. The paramedics worked on both girls even as they lay encased in the ruins of metal. Ranma stood and watched and prayed. He did not know to whom he was praying. He did not know which prayers he was saying. He only knew that Akane could not die. Soun and Genma stayed behind him but did not try to touch him. Ukyo had tried to limp to him but she had been held back by the two men.

The ambulance finally sped away to the hospital. Ranma was on his feet, racing when somebody stopped him,

"Please Ranchan, you hurt me when..." Ukyo watched as he barely spared her a glance, never felt her stopping hand as he jumped off, his eyes on the ambulance and his feet following it and she whispered the rest of her sentence to the wind, "you shoved me back, can you take me to the hospital with you..." He was gone in a flash and Soun and Genma were right behind him. Kasumi was already at the hospital with Tofu. She stood alone beside the wreckage. Alone.

The car that screeched to a halt beside her snapped her bowed head up. Kuno leaned out yelling even before the car had stopped,

"Where are they?"

"The hospital," she screamed back over the roar of the engine, "Can you..." but he was gone, his car speeding well over the legal speed level and screeching as he raced to the hospital. And once more, she stood alone. Everybody had gone and alone she stood again.

Ranma's eyes never left the ambulance as he roof-hopped. Akane was in there. His heart raced and pain coursed through his veins for each move, each step. He did not hear his own sobs and did not feel his tears coursing down his cheeks. All he could feel was Akane's life slipping away. All he knew was that he was losing her. And he couldn't lose her. He couldn't lose her! Not now, not when he had just found her.

He reached the hospital with the ambulance. They were running as they wheeled her and Nabiki in. Doctors swarmed around, Tofu amongst them. Ranma grabbed one of her hands and held on until they pushed him away and closed the operating theatre door in his face. And he stood there. A man in shock, a man grieving and the tears went on slipping silently down his cheek. A soft hand fell on his shoulder and Kasumi's voice said,

"Come Ranma, there is nothing we can do but wait," and then she was guiding him away to the waiting room, sitting him down. Genma gently squeezed his son's shoulder and turned to his friend staring silently out of the window.

"No!" the cry broke through the silence and Kuno was standing in the doorway, shaking as he stared at them with demented eyes. Kasumi reached him first.

"She's ok, Kuno. She's ok." She kept murmuring to the disarrayed and desperate young man cupping his face in her hands until finally she got him in a chair too. She went to her haunches before him and took his hands in hers.

"The doctors are taking care of her right now and she'll be ok," she murmured.

Both Ranma and Kuno stared at her for an eternity before both men turned away and it was the same tears of pain, of sorrow, of hurting that slipped down their cheeks. Their eyes held the same tearing grief, the same demons taunted them and they fought the same fights for faith. And silence dawned once more in the waiting room.

Ukyo hobbled inside the hospital corridor. She had to find Ranchan. Ranchan needed her. She pushed opened open the door of the waiting room and saw them. Together. Kasumi sat between Genma and Soun, the latter holding her hand and Genma had his hand on her shoulder. Ranma and Kuno completed the circle. Together. They were together in their worry, in their pain. Kasumi, Soun and Genma lifted their eyes.

"Why are you here?" her tone was strong, protective.

She neither had the strength nor the courage to give Ukyo the benefit of the doubt as she sat there. Her strength and her courage were for her sisters right now, for her family who sat before her, for them who needed her.

"I am," Ukyo cleared her throat, "I am here to see how they are doing?" she could not bring herself to say their names.

"We do not know yet. We do not know when we will know," came the same strong voice. Ukyo bowed her head but did not leave. Ranchan would be needing someone and she wanted to be here. It was the only thing in her mind: Ranchan. She walked inside and sat down beside him. Kasumi looked away. One hour crept slowly and slowly the tears stopped dripping from Kuno's bowed head onto the carpet. But both men stayed head-bowed staring at the carpet, saying the prayers only they knew of to the Gods only they recognized. Kasumi had laid her head on her father's shoulder and Genma's hand was still resting on her shoulder.

Ukyo stared at Ranma, the man she loved so much. At that moment, there was no accident, no Akane, no Nabiki. There was only Ranma. Ranma sitting there and she knew that if she were here for him right now, he would understand how much she loved him, how she was the perfect woman for him. Ranma got to his feet and stepped into the corridor. What the fuck was taking so much time? – his gut clenched again at the thought. Grief rose and he battled it down once more. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Akane, Akane, Akane... her name went round and round in his mind and pictures of her flashed by. Then it all broke.

Ukyo was there and his hand was in both of hers.

"Get the hell away from me!" his voice lashed out low and venomous and a hand touched his shoulder.

"Ranma," the Chinese boy pulled him for a hard hug and Ranma went for his friend. Mousse looked at the shocked girl over his friend's shoulder and felt nothing for her. No pity, no sadness. Absolutely nothing. Ranma pulled away and went back to the waiting room. Mousse stopped by Ukyo and in a low voice, he said to her,

"Let them be. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything" and he followed Ranma.

Ukyo watched him give Kuno a hard hug as he had Ranma before the family pulled him in their midst.

Jealousy rose fresh and biting. Why not her? Why didn't they welcome her pain and share her strength as they did Mousse's? Why not her? Because you feel no pain, a voice answered her in her head. Because you're just a scheming, conniving bitch who is only here for Ranma! Because you cannot even leave them alone in their pain, the voice voiced her inner disgust. The ever-growing disgust that she felt for herself and she turned away. Away from the voice, hobbling as fast as she could out of the hospital.

Shampoo was waiting for her when she got home.

"What happened?" was her first sentence, a big smile on her face

Ukyo so much wanted to hit her. But they had a deal. So she told her, related the whole episode in a monotonous voice.

"The bitch! What will it take to kill her?" she hissed.

"No!" came Ukyo's instinctive answer.

"What? You not want Airen no more? Good, I have him for myself" she taunted Ukyo with a greedy smile.

"No! Ranchan's mine."

"Then Spatula girl better remember which side she on" was the biting reply. "This is chance to get close to Airen, I figure something out. For now, we just wait and see how things will be," was her good-bye as she left and Ukyo fell in a chair, totally spent. There was no going back anymore. But Ranchan would find how supportive she was, how much she loved him and he would fall in love with her.

You think so? The voice in her head reared up once more. Do you really think so?