A/N: This means thought and *this* means italics. Sorry for the long un-
update!! I got really busy. I hope you enjoy this chapter, though. Thank
you for all the morale-boosting reviews!!!!
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The girl woke at evening. She raised herself up, wincing as her various bruises and cuts woke as well. She gazed around, searching for familiar landmarks, but saw none.
"Oh, yeah," she giggled weakly, "I'm lost." She was unwilling to admit - yet - that she had amnesia.
Ranko trudged along, noting the black blobs indicating cave mouths. Somehow, she was reluctant to venture into one. She threaded her way around a couple of caves, smelling the sweet scents of incense and looking at the numerous scrolls. "To keep demons in," she said aloud. "What kind of place is this?" The night had no answers.
There was an inn nearby, but Ranko decided not to go in, as it could be dangerous for a girl alone. Instead, she continued her meandering way, past a hospital, past several small houses, until she came to another small house that just, well, seemed right. She knocked upon the door and waited for someone to open it.
"Hello?" said a deep voice, and a middle-aged, yet extremely fit, man opened it. He looked straight ahead, seemed puzzled that no one was there, then finally glanced down. "A girl," he rumbled, as though he did not quite approve.
Ranko made herself look small and pathetic, though her body voiced its protest with pain. "Please, sir, I just want a place to stay for the night," she said. "I'm sorry, I have no money to pay you with."
The man looked her over. "I see you must have been to the training grounds," he told her, eyeing her wounds.
She looked at her dried-blood-encrusted arm. "Did I?" Seeing his bewildered look, she hastily amended, "Oh, yeah, that's right, I did."
"Which cave?" It looked like he was a hard customer.
"Um, let me think. . ." she said, probing her jagged memory for anything. The cave she had woken up by threw itself in front of her mind's eye. Then she had walked past an inn and a hospital to get here. . . "I think - I mean, it was the very first one."
The man's monobrow disappeared into his hair. "The very first one? Where the most fearful demon resides? What is a girl alone thinking of?" He took her arm and drew her inside, where a plump wife was setting the table for three. "You can stay with us until you're rested."
Ranko swallowed, but said, "Um. All right." After all, I have nowhere else to go.
"You can think on it," he said benevolently. "Right now, have some food."
The first week with Ranma missing passed with only minor complaints from those he saw most around Nerima. The teachers accepted the reason that he was training, but some, well, needed more explanations.
"Akane Tendo! What have you done with my Ranma?"
"I haven't done *anything* to him, Kodachi!" Akane yelled back, for what felt like the tenth time. "He's gone on a training trip with his father!"
Kodachi stood with her arms crossed, an angry smirk on her face. "Of course he didn't. You pushed him into hiding from me. . .me! Kodachi, the Black Rose! Ranmaaaaaaaaa darling!" she called, leaping over the buildings.
That wasn't the least of Akane's troubles. Ryoga would come up to her about once a day, and moan about not getting to some training grounds. Akane tried to be sympathetic, but knowing about Ryoga's nonexistent sense of direction, she couldn't really be as nice as she felt he deserved. And since he wouldn't tell her what ground he wanted to get to, she couldn't help.
"Akane Tendo! I shall console you in my arms!"
"Get away from me, Kuno," she snapped, booting him over a nearby roof.
He returned with remarkable speed. "My darling Akane, let me do anything you wish."
She sighed. "Then leave." She found that she sort of missed Ranma, since he had a certain nonchalant way of beating Kuno up that made the annoying kendo player *stay* away. She walked back home with Kuno's shouts ringing in her ears.
"I will do anything you want!!"
The second week passed with even more trouble. Kodachi simply wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and refused to listen to Akane, convinced that the Tendo girl had killed her beloved and stuffed his body in a closet somewhere. Kuno became even more irritating than usual, persistent because there was only Akane to beat him up, and she wasn't as forceful as Ranma. Shampoo started to hang out at the Dojo, waiting for her fiancé to return, and Mousse followed her. Ukyo started to sink into a kind of depression and began to miss school. Ryoga vanished, having probably found the training grounds. Meanwhile, the Tendo family started to get worried as well. From Nabiki's calculations, they should have arrived at the Golden Crane near the end of the first week. Even Akane, who was known to find Ranma a jerk, started to miss him after half a month.
"She's been gone for nearly two weeks now," said Nodoka in the kitchen one day. "I do hope she's all right, wherever she is now. She was such a dear at cooking."
"Um, yes," said Akane, trying a happy smile. "Ranko is probably, um. . ."
Nodoka looked at her. "Akane, that's not flour, that's baking soda. And what is Ranko-chan doing?"
"Eeek!" yelped Akane. She hastily righted the half-tipped can of soda, but some had poured out. What sort of girl am I? I can't even bake a cake correctly! To Nodoka, she said, "She's probably shopping for, you know, clothes."
Nodoka smiled and took away the zucchini Akane was about to slice into the cake. "Eggs, Akane, eggs," she told the girl. "That's so good! Ranko- chan needed some nice girl clothes. Like a dress."
Akane smiled again, this time to hide the smirk of laughter. "And now for the coca powder," she said aloud, tipping the measuring cup over.
"No!" cried Nodoka, coming to the rescue once more. "The tablespoon, Akane, not the one cup. I wonder when she'll return. I didn't know she liked shopping that much! I can't wait to see her clothes."
What did I start? Akane wondered.
The panda wandered along, feeling rather lost. He didn't know where his son was. He remembered racing into the cave as a human, then encountering a sort of inky blackness with red eyes and a powerful aura. The next thing he knew, the inside of his body was on fire, the kind of fire that only terrible cold can create. It was ripping out his insides, forcing his body to shrink into itself from the blackness. He recalled changing into a panda, somehow, and the fur protected his flesh slightly more than the gi. Then he was thrown violently out of the cave, far away, and landed into. . .
He glanced around. A boy with long hair was chasing a girl with very long purple hair on a bike.
He didn't know where he was.
He didn't even know who he was.
The girl stopped her bike and calmly booted her stalker into the sky. "Is Ranma here?" she asked excitedly. "He is back?"
The panda looked at her, but couldn't remember anything about her.
She looked at something to his right, but close to his body. "Who. . .Ranma?" she asked, obviously reading something. Then she grew angry. "What you mean, 'Who Ranma'?" she shouted. "Ranma you son! Ranma Shampoo groom!"
Shampoo. Suddenly memories burst from behind a dam in his mind. He could feel his paws writing dozens of signs, and he heard Shampoo cry, "No, stop! Change to man!" Then a kettle fell over him and he rose, human.
"Tendo, thank you!" cried Genma. "Am I back in Nerima? How did I get here?"
"What we want to know is what you were doing away from Nerima," said Soun. He was dressed in his battle gear, umistakably waiting a serious answer.
Genma shuddered. "I took Ranma on a training trip," he said. "I thought I might find us a cure, but. . ."
"Did it ever occur to you to leave us a note?" Soun asked dangerously, tipping his naginata into a ready position.
Genma cowered. "Well, yes, but it slipped my mind! Seriously!"
Soun's weapon didn't waver. "And where is my daughter's fiancé, anyway? Didn't you bring him back?"
Genma tried to remember, but couldn't recall exactly what had happened to Ranma. "I have to talk to you about that," he said. Soun led him back to the dojo at naginata-point.
Fortunately for Genma, his wife had left a couple of days ago, saying that she had to return to her house. Nabiki nearly dropped her teacup when she saw him walk into the house looking like a criminal her father had found. Kasumi immediately began to make more tea. Akane's jaw fell and she had to work hard to get it back into its usual position. Shampoo walked in after Soun, looking upset.
"Didn't you know that the Golden Crane stuff was probably bull?" Nabiki wanted to know. "Honestly, I can't believe why you would fall for that." Studying him critically, she amended, "Actually, for you I can. So where's Ranma?"
"Yes," said Shampoo, ominously cracking her knuckles, "where Shampoo groom? Why he not here with you?"
Genma stood, looking slightly ashamed. After a few minutes, he coughed and said, "I am afraid to admit that I have lost my son."
There was an immediate outbreak of noise. Soun's face became very dark and the room was filled with his angry aura. Shampoo started shouting, "What you mean LOSE Ranma? How you LOSE Ranma?!" Nabiki yelled, "What a horrible father you are, losing your only son!" Soun gave a loud growl of , "Gennnnnnnnmaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" accompanied by fire from his nose. Akane cried out, "How could you lose him? Where were you two?"
"Please," said Genma weakly, "please. Calm down."
Miraculously, everyone became silent, thought the weight of all the angry auras, including Kasumi's, was evident. A couple of cups broke, and the table shifted.
Genma put a hand to his forehead and took several deep breaths. "All right. I'll tell you. Ranma and I had only gotten to the Youkai Caves. I decided to take him into one as another test. We went in and. . ." he shuddered. "All I remember is a terrible cold. I turned into a panda, and was spit out of the cave. I didn't know where I was; I didn't even know *who* I was. I think the cold did that to me. I walked wherever my feet took me, and ended up here." He heaved a gigantic sigh. "I don't know what happened to Ranma after we ran in. I can only assume he ended up like me, with amnesia."
There was a pause as everyone thought about this.
"Ranma with amnesia," whispered Akane.
"Watch out, world," muttered Nabiki.
With a surprising burst of temper, Shampoo threw a cup at the middle Tendo sister. "You be quiet!" she snapped. "Stupid girl. No care about Ranma? Then stay out of this." She walked out, saying over her shoulder, "Shampoo go find groom."
"Wait!" called Nabiki. Shampoo turned, a disgusted look on her face. Nabiki looked troubled. "All right. That was uncalled for, and I'm sorry. But before you go looking for Ranma. . .a few words of advice."
"Yes?" said Shampoo, poison in her voice. Akane jerked back, surprised at this very un-Shampoo-like behavior.
"Number one: Ranma won't know who he is. Number two: Ranma won't know who you are. Number three: You don't know where he is. And number four. . .Well, this is only a guess, but he might be in his girl form. And if he is, do you think he'll believe you when you say she's really a boy?"
Shampoo, Akane, Genma, and Soun stared at her in horror. Kasumi was making tea and replacing cups. "I didn't think of that," said Akane in a whisper. "That's horrible! We *have* to go look for him now!"
"Start around the Youkai Caves," advised Nabiki. "Maybe you'll find someone who saw him. . .or her."
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Rekkas' Chat Section: Aaaah, that was a long chapter. And for the question, "How did Nodoka know where to send the letter?", I have revised Ch.1 and added that bit in. So Ch.1 is now long, too. Ai-ya ya. And usal- lover888 had a very good idea about Ranko and Ryoga getting together for the romance bit. I was gonna make up a random guy, but this is better. Or I could've done Kuno. What do you all think? Please tell me, Kuno or Ryoga. The question is, How badly do you want to torture Ranma? Lol. Next chapter is the Hot Water Disaster! Looking forward to it!
End of Rekkas' Chat Section for this chapter. -.^
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The girl woke at evening. She raised herself up, wincing as her various bruises and cuts woke as well. She gazed around, searching for familiar landmarks, but saw none.
"Oh, yeah," she giggled weakly, "I'm lost." She was unwilling to admit - yet - that she had amnesia.
Ranko trudged along, noting the black blobs indicating cave mouths. Somehow, she was reluctant to venture into one. She threaded her way around a couple of caves, smelling the sweet scents of incense and looking at the numerous scrolls. "To keep demons in," she said aloud. "What kind of place is this?" The night had no answers.
There was an inn nearby, but Ranko decided not to go in, as it could be dangerous for a girl alone. Instead, she continued her meandering way, past a hospital, past several small houses, until she came to another small house that just, well, seemed right. She knocked upon the door and waited for someone to open it.
"Hello?" said a deep voice, and a middle-aged, yet extremely fit, man opened it. He looked straight ahead, seemed puzzled that no one was there, then finally glanced down. "A girl," he rumbled, as though he did not quite approve.
Ranko made herself look small and pathetic, though her body voiced its protest with pain. "Please, sir, I just want a place to stay for the night," she said. "I'm sorry, I have no money to pay you with."
The man looked her over. "I see you must have been to the training grounds," he told her, eyeing her wounds.
She looked at her dried-blood-encrusted arm. "Did I?" Seeing his bewildered look, she hastily amended, "Oh, yeah, that's right, I did."
"Which cave?" It looked like he was a hard customer.
"Um, let me think. . ." she said, probing her jagged memory for anything. The cave she had woken up by threw itself in front of her mind's eye. Then she had walked past an inn and a hospital to get here. . . "I think - I mean, it was the very first one."
The man's monobrow disappeared into his hair. "The very first one? Where the most fearful demon resides? What is a girl alone thinking of?" He took her arm and drew her inside, where a plump wife was setting the table for three. "You can stay with us until you're rested."
Ranko swallowed, but said, "Um. All right." After all, I have nowhere else to go.
"You can think on it," he said benevolently. "Right now, have some food."
The first week with Ranma missing passed with only minor complaints from those he saw most around Nerima. The teachers accepted the reason that he was training, but some, well, needed more explanations.
"Akane Tendo! What have you done with my Ranma?"
"I haven't done *anything* to him, Kodachi!" Akane yelled back, for what felt like the tenth time. "He's gone on a training trip with his father!"
Kodachi stood with her arms crossed, an angry smirk on her face. "Of course he didn't. You pushed him into hiding from me. . .me! Kodachi, the Black Rose! Ranmaaaaaaaaa darling!" she called, leaping over the buildings.
That wasn't the least of Akane's troubles. Ryoga would come up to her about once a day, and moan about not getting to some training grounds. Akane tried to be sympathetic, but knowing about Ryoga's nonexistent sense of direction, she couldn't really be as nice as she felt he deserved. And since he wouldn't tell her what ground he wanted to get to, she couldn't help.
"Akane Tendo! I shall console you in my arms!"
"Get away from me, Kuno," she snapped, booting him over a nearby roof.
He returned with remarkable speed. "My darling Akane, let me do anything you wish."
She sighed. "Then leave." She found that she sort of missed Ranma, since he had a certain nonchalant way of beating Kuno up that made the annoying kendo player *stay* away. She walked back home with Kuno's shouts ringing in her ears.
"I will do anything you want!!"
The second week passed with even more trouble. Kodachi simply wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and refused to listen to Akane, convinced that the Tendo girl had killed her beloved and stuffed his body in a closet somewhere. Kuno became even more irritating than usual, persistent because there was only Akane to beat him up, and she wasn't as forceful as Ranma. Shampoo started to hang out at the Dojo, waiting for her fiancé to return, and Mousse followed her. Ukyo started to sink into a kind of depression and began to miss school. Ryoga vanished, having probably found the training grounds. Meanwhile, the Tendo family started to get worried as well. From Nabiki's calculations, they should have arrived at the Golden Crane near the end of the first week. Even Akane, who was known to find Ranma a jerk, started to miss him after half a month.
"She's been gone for nearly two weeks now," said Nodoka in the kitchen one day. "I do hope she's all right, wherever she is now. She was such a dear at cooking."
"Um, yes," said Akane, trying a happy smile. "Ranko is probably, um. . ."
Nodoka looked at her. "Akane, that's not flour, that's baking soda. And what is Ranko-chan doing?"
"Eeek!" yelped Akane. She hastily righted the half-tipped can of soda, but some had poured out. What sort of girl am I? I can't even bake a cake correctly! To Nodoka, she said, "She's probably shopping for, you know, clothes."
Nodoka smiled and took away the zucchini Akane was about to slice into the cake. "Eggs, Akane, eggs," she told the girl. "That's so good! Ranko- chan needed some nice girl clothes. Like a dress."
Akane smiled again, this time to hide the smirk of laughter. "And now for the coca powder," she said aloud, tipping the measuring cup over.
"No!" cried Nodoka, coming to the rescue once more. "The tablespoon, Akane, not the one cup. I wonder when she'll return. I didn't know she liked shopping that much! I can't wait to see her clothes."
What did I start? Akane wondered.
The panda wandered along, feeling rather lost. He didn't know where his son was. He remembered racing into the cave as a human, then encountering a sort of inky blackness with red eyes and a powerful aura. The next thing he knew, the inside of his body was on fire, the kind of fire that only terrible cold can create. It was ripping out his insides, forcing his body to shrink into itself from the blackness. He recalled changing into a panda, somehow, and the fur protected his flesh slightly more than the gi. Then he was thrown violently out of the cave, far away, and landed into. . .
He glanced around. A boy with long hair was chasing a girl with very long purple hair on a bike.
He didn't know where he was.
He didn't even know who he was.
The girl stopped her bike and calmly booted her stalker into the sky. "Is Ranma here?" she asked excitedly. "He is back?"
The panda looked at her, but couldn't remember anything about her.
She looked at something to his right, but close to his body. "Who. . .Ranma?" she asked, obviously reading something. Then she grew angry. "What you mean, 'Who Ranma'?" she shouted. "Ranma you son! Ranma Shampoo groom!"
Shampoo. Suddenly memories burst from behind a dam in his mind. He could feel his paws writing dozens of signs, and he heard Shampoo cry, "No, stop! Change to man!" Then a kettle fell over him and he rose, human.
"Tendo, thank you!" cried Genma. "Am I back in Nerima? How did I get here?"
"What we want to know is what you were doing away from Nerima," said Soun. He was dressed in his battle gear, umistakably waiting a serious answer.
Genma shuddered. "I took Ranma on a training trip," he said. "I thought I might find us a cure, but. . ."
"Did it ever occur to you to leave us a note?" Soun asked dangerously, tipping his naginata into a ready position.
Genma cowered. "Well, yes, but it slipped my mind! Seriously!"
Soun's weapon didn't waver. "And where is my daughter's fiancé, anyway? Didn't you bring him back?"
Genma tried to remember, but couldn't recall exactly what had happened to Ranma. "I have to talk to you about that," he said. Soun led him back to the dojo at naginata-point.
Fortunately for Genma, his wife had left a couple of days ago, saying that she had to return to her house. Nabiki nearly dropped her teacup when she saw him walk into the house looking like a criminal her father had found. Kasumi immediately began to make more tea. Akane's jaw fell and she had to work hard to get it back into its usual position. Shampoo walked in after Soun, looking upset.
"Didn't you know that the Golden Crane stuff was probably bull?" Nabiki wanted to know. "Honestly, I can't believe why you would fall for that." Studying him critically, she amended, "Actually, for you I can. So where's Ranma?"
"Yes," said Shampoo, ominously cracking her knuckles, "where Shampoo groom? Why he not here with you?"
Genma stood, looking slightly ashamed. After a few minutes, he coughed and said, "I am afraid to admit that I have lost my son."
There was an immediate outbreak of noise. Soun's face became very dark and the room was filled with his angry aura. Shampoo started shouting, "What you mean LOSE Ranma? How you LOSE Ranma?!" Nabiki yelled, "What a horrible father you are, losing your only son!" Soun gave a loud growl of , "Gennnnnnnnmaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" accompanied by fire from his nose. Akane cried out, "How could you lose him? Where were you two?"
"Please," said Genma weakly, "please. Calm down."
Miraculously, everyone became silent, thought the weight of all the angry auras, including Kasumi's, was evident. A couple of cups broke, and the table shifted.
Genma put a hand to his forehead and took several deep breaths. "All right. I'll tell you. Ranma and I had only gotten to the Youkai Caves. I decided to take him into one as another test. We went in and. . ." he shuddered. "All I remember is a terrible cold. I turned into a panda, and was spit out of the cave. I didn't know where I was; I didn't even know *who* I was. I think the cold did that to me. I walked wherever my feet took me, and ended up here." He heaved a gigantic sigh. "I don't know what happened to Ranma after we ran in. I can only assume he ended up like me, with amnesia."
There was a pause as everyone thought about this.
"Ranma with amnesia," whispered Akane.
"Watch out, world," muttered Nabiki.
With a surprising burst of temper, Shampoo threw a cup at the middle Tendo sister. "You be quiet!" she snapped. "Stupid girl. No care about Ranma? Then stay out of this." She walked out, saying over her shoulder, "Shampoo go find groom."
"Wait!" called Nabiki. Shampoo turned, a disgusted look on her face. Nabiki looked troubled. "All right. That was uncalled for, and I'm sorry. But before you go looking for Ranma. . .a few words of advice."
"Yes?" said Shampoo, poison in her voice. Akane jerked back, surprised at this very un-Shampoo-like behavior.
"Number one: Ranma won't know who he is. Number two: Ranma won't know who you are. Number three: You don't know where he is. And number four. . .Well, this is only a guess, but he might be in his girl form. And if he is, do you think he'll believe you when you say she's really a boy?"
Shampoo, Akane, Genma, and Soun stared at her in horror. Kasumi was making tea and replacing cups. "I didn't think of that," said Akane in a whisper. "That's horrible! We *have* to go look for him now!"
"Start around the Youkai Caves," advised Nabiki. "Maybe you'll find someone who saw him. . .or her."
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Rekkas' Chat Section: Aaaah, that was a long chapter. And for the question, "How did Nodoka know where to send the letter?", I have revised Ch.1 and added that bit in. So Ch.1 is now long, too. Ai-ya ya. And usal- lover888 had a very good idea about Ranko and Ryoga getting together for the romance bit. I was gonna make up a random guy, but this is better. Or I could've done Kuno. What do you all think? Please tell me, Kuno or Ryoga. The question is, How badly do you want to torture Ranma? Lol. Next chapter is the Hot Water Disaster! Looking forward to it!
End of Rekkas' Chat Section for this chapter. -.^