Broken Hearts, Mended Souls
By
Nuclear Twinkie

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Disclaimer: In all seriousness, all rights to Ranma1/2 and its characters go to Rumiko Takahashi. In all silliness... Ukyo, could you help me with the disclaimer? "Sure thing. Let's see, all the characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. If you try and claim otherwise, you'll never be allowed to eat my okonomiyaki." Ukyo, I've never had okonomiyaki, not even yours. "What? Never? We'll fix that" --cooking sounds-- Ukyo, what about the disclaimer? "Aren't we done with that?" Yeah I guess. Now only if this wasn't a fanfic, I could eat some okonomiyaki for real. --Sigh-- I have to remember not to write these disclaimers while I'm hungry.

{} = Character Thoughts
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The man is wearing a loose fitting pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. A scar runs down the left side of his face. He smiles and levels the gun at Soun. "Now, where were we?"

"Right here. Möko Takabisha!" Ranma is standing as he delivers a powerful ki blast directly at the man. The blast comes as a surprise and hits him dead on. He flies backwards and slams into the wall behind him. Ranma suddenly grips his leg in pain and drops back into a kneeling position. {Man, I never noticed there was a kickback on that. Damn, that hurts. I gotta make sure Pops is all right.} "Pops, are you conscious? C'mon Pops. Now is not the time for sleeping."

Ranma flips his father over so he is lying on his back. Ranma recoils in shock at the large quantity of blood present on the floor and on his father's gi. A bullet hole is visible on the left side of Genma's chest. {Oh no. Pops has to be all right. He just has to be.} Working as fast as he can, Ranma rips open Genma's gi to expose the wound. He then takes his own shirt off and presses it against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. {He's still breathing, which means he'll be OK. I just know it.} Soun kneels down on the other side of Genma. "Ranma, he's lost a lot of blood already. We have to get him out of here."

"QUACK!" Ranma and Soun both look at Mousse who is pointing towards the wall where the murderer flew. As they turn to look, Ranma's head snaps backwards as the man delivers a painful jump kick to Ranma's skull. Ranma loses consciousness and falls over to lie on top of Genma.

"We can't let you stay around and throw more of those ki blasts around, now can we?" The man looks over at Soun. "OK, old man, it's just you and me now. Care to see what 10 years of revenge training can do?"

Soun stands up and steps over Ranma and Genma to face his opponent. "Mousse, you will stay out of this fight. As for you, you will not hurt those I care about anymore. I am going to do what I should have done ten years ago."

The man chuckles at Soun's sudden challenge. "And what is that old man?"

"I am going to kill you." Soun immediately charges his opponent and strikes at the other man's abdomen. He blocks and attempts a counterpunch at Soun's head. Soun drops down and delivers a sweeping kick to trip the man. He jumps over Soun and lands behind him, immediately kicking out at the kneeling Soun. Soun rolls to the side and comes up in a battle stance.

"You have improved, student. Unfortunately, it is not enough."

"Really, from what I've heard you're not one to talk. You've become a shell of a man who spends his days crying over every little thing while continuously mourning the death of his wife. I have to admit, the sex with her was great."

"You damned bastard!" Soun charges the man in a blind rage. He twists to the side executes a throw that sends Soun into the same wall he flew into earlier.

The man smirks as Soun hits the wall and starts to get back up. "Now that makes us even. Care to get up and try again?"

Soun gets up faces his opponent. {I cannot lose control again. I will not lose this fight. I will avenge my wife. I will protect my daughters.} Soun's face changes to one of controlled fury. He slowly approaches his enemy while in a fighting stance.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't get up. At least defeating you will be entertaining." Both men are now circling each other. Soun's enemy dashes forward to hit with a series of short jabs. Soun blocks all of them and returns a vicious punch to the jaw. His opponent attempts to roll with the punch but takes the majority of the blow. Soun presses his advantage and brings up his knee into the man's face. He manages to block this and jumps backwards away from Soun.

"Not bad, old man. Let's see you block this. Houbou Fuiuchi!" He attempts a powerful jab that Soun blocks, yet Soun feels the impact of three other similar blows on his right side, left side, and his back. Soun grunts in pain and steps backwards to avoid further injury. {How did do that? He punched once, but I got hit four times.}

"You like that old man? I call it my 'All Sides Sneak Attack'. I'm sure right now you're trying to figure out how it works. I'll give you a clue. It uses ki, something you've never seemed to possess. I told you I've been training 10 years for this, and now I'm going to get my revenge for every minute I spent in that hell you call prison. Houbou Fuiuchi!" Soun again blocks the punch, only to feel the hits in three other places on his person. He grunts and falls to one knee.

The man grabs Soun's hair and lifts Soun's face up to scream, "I lost ten years of my life because of you! I am going to pay that pain back on you a hundred times over! You'll be begging me to kill you when I actually do!"

{He's going to beat me. He's right. I spent all this time mourning my wife instead of training. I have failed everyone. They will all die because I'm too weak. I'm not strong enough. I'm not.} Soun unexpectedly recalls the voices of people in his life. "Daddy..." "I'm hugging my father, Akane." "Father, no matter what happens or what you say, we will love you and always be here for you. Have faith in that." "My life-long friend Soun Tendo needs my help, and I am going to do what I think is best." "There are certain things you have to do, and realizing what you are responsible for is one of them. As martial artists, we're required to atone for our mistakes..."

"NEVER!!!" Soun grabs the man's wrist, pivots, and flings him across the room. The man twists to rebound off the wall and shouts, "Houbou Fuiuchi!" Soun dodges the punch instead of blocking it and expects to be hit again, only to feel nothing. {What? Why didn't it connect? He has to make physical contact, but why? KI! He's using his ki to connect with projected blows, but it's traveling around my ki to the other sides of my body. It's similar to the way magnetic fields travel around power lines. Now he dies!}

Soun charges the man who yet again attempts the maneuver. Soun ducks underneath the attack and brings his foot up into the man's stomach. As he bends over from the impact, Soun delivers a deadly blow. He closes his knuckles but not over his palm, and delivers an uppercut to the man's larynx. Suddenly unable to breathe, he starts stepping backwards and clutching his throat.

"Now it ends," Soun calmly says as he kicks straight out and sends the man backwards through the air. There is a sickening crunch as one of the legs of an upturned chair punctures his back and exits his chest upon landing. Soun walks over to the man and stares into his eyes. "Now suffer and die like my wife did. Die, and go to hell." Soun turns around and walks over to Ranma and Genma. He stops and kneels down to pull Ranma off of Genma. Soun shakes Ranma and says, "Ranma, wake up son. It's all over." Ranma slowly regains consciousness and moves to his father's side.

"Wake up, Pops. C'mon wake up!" Ranma starts shaking Genma in an effort to wake him. "Wake up, Pops! Please wake up!" As Soun sets a hand on Ranma's shoulder to calm him, Genma stirs and moans in pain. He suddenly coughs up a large quantity of blood. Ranma pulls Genma on to his side so he doesn't choke on all the blood. "You're gonna be okay, Pops. Hang in there, and we'll get you to a hospital."

"R-Ranma. Promise me... you'll marry Akane." Genma goes into another it of coughing.

"Gee, Pops. Don't worry about that now. Just quit talking and save your strength." Soun can see tears start to form in Ranma's eyes.

"P-please boy. It's the... last thing I can do for you. You care... for each other. Promise. Please..." Genma continues to cough, the pain evident on his face.

"All right, I promise." Ranma continues to fight away the tears as his grip on his father tightens.

"Thank you, my son. I was... always proud..." Genma's entire body suddenly shudders in pain. His eyes close and his body goes limp.

"Pops? POPS?? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
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Author's Notes: [UPDATED 08/24/02] 1st draft. Man, I'm going to kill myself for these cliffhangers so no readers have to. This chapter is a little shorter than the usual, but the next chapter is the conclusion to the first story arc in this series. I'll have it up as soon as I can. Anyway, please e-mail me with opinions, criticisms, and suggestions. Please be constructive with all C&C. I don't mind being told what someone doesn't like, as long as they provide some direction to make it better. (ntwinkie@effectnet.com)