Well, hello again. As promised, here is the next chapter. We had an extra cold day up here in Minnesota, so thank the weather that I was able to get another chapter done for all of you. I'm certainly thankful! I got to sleep in! LOL

Thank you to all of the reviewers along the way. The criticism was helpful, and the compliments were absolutely wonderful. They all drove me to try my best to write better and better each time for you. I hope I'm not scaring you guys or anything. There's still the epilogue to go before "Forever" is truly finished. I still feel bad about the misunderstanding with the deleting of the reviews in the first chapters of the story, but like I had said before, it was a mistake. I'm sorry to both of the reviewers that I accidentally deleted their reviews when I was trying to edit my story. I hope they, and all of you guys are still enjoying it even now, as creepy and tragic as it is. Well, I'm going to shut up now and let you guys enjoy chapter 10 of my story! ^-^

Disclaimer: I own this computer. I own this story. However, I do not own the characters this story is based on. Pretty confusing, isn't it?

Chapter 10

She opened her eyes and things slowly came into focus. She was in a hospital room. Tied to a chair. Jina lay still on the bed in front of her, just out of her mother's reach. "Jina!"

"Akane, Akane, tsk, tsk. You thought you could escape me forever?" The man sneered down at her. "You should have known better, than to try to escape William Richards. I am your destiny, Akane."

"Why?! Why are you doing this to us?! If you have been following me for this long, you should already know that I am in love with someone else. I am married to this man! Leave. . . us. . . ALONE!" Her head throbbed painfully with each word said.

"I am the rightful father to this child. You are mine because I was the first to take you. I want you, Akane, God, I do." His eyes burned through hers. He rose over her and forced a kiss from her.

Akane struggled madly to get away, but to no avail. After it was done, she glared up at him. "You are sick."

"Sick with desire. I had you once. I want you again. You see, my dear, I have wanted you for so very long now. I had my eyes on you for many years. I was training in China, and came across these springs. . ." He brushed kisses across her face, which she squirmed away from.

"You trained in China?! Then you fell in a spring?" Akane gasped.

He shook his head. "Oh, no. I wasn't like those other fools who had come to that spring. However, you can thank your 'husband' for leading me to you."

"What does Ranma have to do with anything?" Akane asked uneasily. "Where you following him because of his curse? Because you thought he was female, too?"

"What curse?" Bill scoffed. "He had no curse that I saw! No. I am a martial artist. His style of martial arts inspired me to train harder, and differently."

Trying anything to delay what this man had in store for her, Akane prodded, "So you never saw Ranma's cursed form? Not one time?" Ranma must have had some of his dumb luck save him from this sadistic man's prying eyes.

"I wasn't following Saotome for the whole trip. But he was the one who led me to you. I followed when I wanted to learn more by watching him. Then, one day, I saw you, a spitfire, more beautiful than any woman around you," he whispered huskily into her ear. "You were the first one. After seeing you, I wanted a woman. I have had many women since you. But it's you I want most of all." He was close to her. Too close.

"So help me God if you don't back off I will scream," Akane growled out. "I don't care if you're the best martial artist in the damn nation now. It won't do you any good if you're shot full of lead."

"You can scream. But know that as soon as a sound escapes those perfect lips of yours you've doomed your daughter," the man said. "Our daughter."

"She's NOT yours!" Akane shouted. "How could you claim to be her father if you would kill her right here?!"

His eyes glowed eerily. "We can always have more, can't we?"

"BASTARD!" She shouted. "I'll DIE first!"

"Temper, temper," he warned. "I don't want to have to use this." He held up a vile of clear liquid. "If I were to inject this poison into Jina, it would kill her in minutes."

Tears spilled down Akane's cheeks. She didn't want to do as he bade her, but to save Jina. . . "Ranma will come for us. He always has," she whispered, trying to reassure herself. She wasn't so sure, however. If this man truly HAD been following Ranma since he first left Jusenkyo, in the meantime perfecting his own techniques, probably lethal, would Ranma really be able to save her and Jina? This man was also a demented intellect. It was obvious that he was an intelligent man, capable of mastering anything and everything that he set his mind to. He had made some very unintelligent errors, however. In returning to her apartment that night that he had kidnapped Jina, and also returning to Jina's hospital room after kidnapping Akane herself. 'Unless he has some twisted plot in his head,' she thought with a shudder. 'Is he going to kill me here? Does he hold some kind of grudge against Ranma? Am I just to satisfy his vengeance? Ranma. . . please hurry. . .'

"Ranma will not come for you. If he does, I will kill him. He is an empty threat to me," Bill said flippantly.

"Not so empty," Ryoga growled as he entered the room. "You really must be stupid to come here. This is the first place Ranma will come. One he hears that Akane has been kidnapped and Jina is in danger."

Akane cried out, "Ryoga!" She couldn't help it; the relief flooded through her.

Ryoga threw a punch at the man, who easily sidestepped it and kicked him in the back. Ryoga rose slowly, shakily, and smirked. "Is that all you got?"

Before either Akane or Ryoga could react, Ryoga was slammed into the floor and choked to unconsciousness. The man's grip on his neck was slowly killing him.

"RYOGA!" Akane screamed. She struggled against the confining chains of the chair. "Let him GO!"

Bill released the death grip on the intruder and glared at Akane. "I told you not to scream. Say 'bye 'bye to the girl." He raised the vile and grabbed a needle and syringe. He filled the needle and syringe with the liquid and plunged it into Jina.

"NO!" Akane screamed. "JINA! HELP! Why isn't anyone coming?! I SAID HELP!"

"No one cares. No one can hear you. You see, they are all fleeing the hospital," Bill said softly, coldly.

She watched as her daughter's breathing slowed, and then quit altogether. Akane could almost FEEL it as her child's life was taken unjustly from her. She lowered her head submissively. Life meant nothing to her now, with the most precious thing taken away. "Kill me," she whispered. "Just kill me."

"Maybe after I have my fun with you." He grinned, bending over to kiss Akane's frozen lips.

"DON'T TOUCH HER." Akane found herself unresponsive to the voice that usually made her heart skip a beat. Ranma was too late to save Jina, and in a way, too late to save Akane as well.

Bill glared up at Ranma. "So, you want her? Do damn bad! She's MINE!"

In the distraction, Cologne had sneaked over to the child's limp body and carried her to a safer room, to try to care for her. She had been poisoned, but maybe there was a small chance of hope for her if Cologne hurried. Happosai picked Ryoga up and dragged him out of the room as well.

Ranma glanced at Akane in the meantime. She seemed as lifeless as her daughter now. "DAMN YOU WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" The floor cracked with the aura of his anger, and only then was Ranma aware of the rest of the fleeing people in the building. It was vacant now. As if ready for the storm to hit. And hit it did. Ranma threw himself at the man in a rage.

Seeing the power in the primal rage of Ranma, Bill realized that he should be cautious with the man, or he could easily be killed. He dodged Ranma's attacks again and again with ease.

"Ranma!" Happosai rushed in. "I came to help you with him!"

"Get outta my WAY!" Ranma shouted. "I'm gonna KILL him myself! Take Akane and GET OUT!"

That distraction left Ranma open for assault. He took hits from Bill left and right, in his stomach, face, and legs. Then a powerful kick sent him crashing through a wall. This only seemed to make him angrier. He leapt out in a rage and attacked Bill at random. A single kick to the face sent Ranma back again, crashing this time into the opposite wall. He lay there for a time, the anger radiating from his body like a wicked aura. Then, a calm passed over him. He was fighting for Akane. His Akane. The word ran through his mind, transforming into a beautiful vision. The woman he loved. She was smiling.

Ranma's eyes shot open. At that moment in his life, nothing had seemed so clear to him before. Bill threw a powerful finishing punch his direction. He dodged it fluently and delivered a powerful kick to the man's side. Then, the anger came back, and Ranma viscously attacked him again and again, even after he had collapsed into a bloody heap on the ground.

* * *

The building was shaking violently as Happosai led Akane out. Actually, he carried her limp, uncaring body out of the building. Akane didn't care even enough to voice her annoyance about his hand being on her breast. She would die soon, in her mind, anyway. She could take some pills, and that would be the end of it. She spied a scalpel on the ground. That would do the trick.

"He loves you, Akane," Happosai said suddenly, as if he was reading her mind. "Don't do anything because Ranma loves you."

They were outside, and Akane could still hear Ranma's shouts of anger and pain. 'For me,' she thought. 'He's doing it for me.' "Ranma!" She cried, and pulled away from Happosai's grasp, ignoring his protests. She was in the building now, as badly as it was shaking. "Ranma!"

"Damn you! SHISHI HOKODAN!" The wind picked up from the energy of Ranma's 'ki', and Akane was thrown into the air with the debris from the destroyed building. It was Ranma's attack, so Akane smiled. He had won.

The air was thinning, and Akane saw him on the ground. "Ranma," she choked out with the last of her energy. "I l-love. . .you. . ." She saw his face and watched as Ranma jumped up to grab her. Her last thoughts were, 'So this is what it's like to die. . .' Then everything went dark.

Her body was limp against him. "Akane," Ranma whispered, landing safely on the ground. "Akane! Akane!" He was kneeling with her in his arms. "Answer me! Akane, don't leave me! I love you!" Ranma's tears fell on her pale face. He crouched over her and cried bitterly. He heard something stir a few feet away. He saw the severely beaten body of Bill Richards there. He was alive. Ranma would take care of that right now. "You're not gonna get away with what you've done to her. Not with me around." His hand went to the man's throat. Then stopped. Instead, he began hitting pressure points. After he was done, he stood. "Now you'll feel the helplessness, you sadistic asshole. You won't be able to move, and people will do what they want to you."

"Ranma. . ." Akane coughed hoarsely.

Ranma's head snapped up at the sound of her voice and he raced to her side, clutching her to him. He felt her body lurch with more coughs. He sat her up straight, and looked at her face. Akane's eyes were open. "A-Akane!"

"R-Ranma. . . are we dead. . .?" She whispered. "Where's Jina?" She coughed again.

He hugged her tightly. "No, we're not dead. We're alive," he whispered softly. He looked around for Cologne. "Shampoo's great-grandmother took her to see if she could help Jina."

"Jina's dead, Ranma. I don't think there's anything that Cologne can do now," Akane said, almost emotionless. "My little girl. . .my baby." That was when her voice broke.

His voice tightened, and he wept openly. "No, Akane. Jina was OUR baby. I promised you both, remember?"

"I want to see her? Where is she? I have all rights to see her. Ranma, help me find her," Akane pleaded, struggling to get up.

Ranma was silent. He watched as Cologne made her way through the rubble of the building with Jina's little battered body. She was solemn as she lay the girl in Akane's lap. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was able to neutralize the poison, but I wasn't able to wake her."

"What did you say?" Akane raised her eyes hopefully. "You mean, she's alive?"

"Hai, but she's still in a coma. There's nothing I can do to wake her," Cologne said.

"But she's ALIVE! So that means there's hope," Ranma said excitedly. He hugged Akane.

"Oh, how can we ever thank you?" Akane cried out her relief into her husband's torn shirt.

Happosai approached them and put a friendly arm around Cologne. "You never cease to amaze me, Cologne," he said pleasantly.

"Ah, but Happy, you still forget, I am still an Amazon," she said, taking her staff and swinging at him with it. "You're still going to pay for what you did, you old lecher!" She chased him around for a time, almost playfully, and almost as if she missed him, and he missed her.

"What can I say?" Ranma chuckled as he watched them. "It's love. But it's a good thing we got it straightened out before they both did. I'd swear they're going on three hundred and still haven't been able to admit that they really do care for each other. Scary, but that could have been us, Akane."

Akane cuddled closely into Ranma. "I'm glad it wasn't," she whispered. For the first time in years, she felt truly safe and content.

* * *

It was morning. Ranma yawned and stretched. He could hear the song of birds, the hustling of distant people, and Akane retching in the bathroom. He jumped out of bed. "Akane, this is the third day you've been this sick. Go to the doctor already! You need to rest. Then you can get rid of whatever bug you picked up. How's about it?"

"I have to get ready for work, Ranma," she argued.

He stuck out his tongue at her. "Kawaiikunee! Go to the doctor, stupid!" He teased her.

She looked at him for a moment. Then, she ran past him to the bathroom again and closed the door. The sound of her being sick again was followed by sobbing.

"Akane!" He opened the door.

"Go AWAY!" She threw a bar of soap at him. "You're such a JERK! I wish I never married you!" She was sick again. "I HATE YOU! Why are you so mean to me, Ranma?" She began to cry as she lay on the floor.

Ranma approached her. "Akane. . .I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you so upset. You really are a mess, aren't you?" He held her and grimaced as he smelled the stench of her from throwing up, but forced himself to forget that. Ranma hated having Akane feel so sick and have him unable to do anything. "I didn't think you'd take it all so literally." He watched her with growing concern. It had been nearly two months since that Bill Richards guy had been sent back to the United States and convicted of serial rape and murder. He had been left completely paralyzed by Ranma, and Beverly had written Akane a week ago about his death. Apparently, the other prison inmates had beaten him to death. Even other prisoners were appalled by his crimes. A fitting ending, Ranma thought. A small death of little importance, for a little man. He hadn't killed him; just left him paralyzed, so he could suffer as Akane suffered.

Now, Akane was looking up at him with that same pain now. "Ranma, I'm so stupid! I didn't mean it! I DON'T hate you! I LOVE you!" She began sobbing into his shoulder.

'I'm going nuts,' he thought. He sighed and hugged his wife close. "No, you're not stupid. I know you don't hate me. Please, go to the doctor."

Finally, she nodded weakly. "I will today, if I can get an appointment."

"No, I will get the appointment and you will rest," Ranma said firmly, standing and leaving her before she could protest. He called in an appointment for an hour later. Akane could barely walk straight to the doctor's office, so Ranma gave her a piggyback ride for the rest of the way there.

"So," the doctor said after he looked her over. "You gave her a piggyback here, you say?"

"Hai," Ranma said, nodding. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all," the doctor chuckled. "You'd just better figure out a different method of carrying her in the next few months. It's going to be rather difficult to give her a piggyback ride when she's seven or eight months along, don't you agree, Mr. Saotome?"

Ranma looked over at Akane in puzzlement, who was smiling a gentle, proud smile back at him. "You mean. . .?"

"Yep. Ranma, I'm pregnant! This is YOUR child I'm carrying!" Akane said happily. She stood up and threw her arms around his neck in a loving embrace.

The doctor cleared his throat. "Come in for frequent check-ups, all right? No heavy lifting or straining activity. However, it is good to get exercise. Get plenty of rest and eat healthily."

"I'll make sure she does," Ranma said lovingly.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Ranma asked Akane yet again.

She smiled. "I feel great."

They were on their way to visit Jina. Ranma was thinking back to the last time Akane had told him that she was going to have a baby. He remembered the distant sadness in her eyes. Most of all, Ranma remembered Akane's resignation. She was willing to accept what had happened to her. Even if it meant her staying silent and having everyone angry with her. He took her hand. In time, his love for her had grown and he had forgiven her. After he had learned that Akane was not at fault, he realized that he was the one who needed to repent. Ranma was ready to spend the rest of his life making it up to Akane.

"Akane! Ran-chan!" Ukyo's voice interrupted his trail of thought. "I've got great news! Ryoga's with Jina right now- and she's AWAKE! She woke up a little while ago and I ran to find you!"

Ranma and Akane looked at each other. Then, they bolted into a run, following Ukyo, to greet Jina, and welcome her back. They reached the hospital anxiously, but then calmed down as they entered her room. "Jina. . .?" Akane whispered. Only Ranma heard her.

It was silent. Jina lay on her back. Akane couldn't tell if she was sleeping or not. "Momma. . .?" The tiny voice was soft, but Akane could hear it, and she rushed toward the bed, and engulfed Jina in a hug, sobbing. "Mommy, why are you crying? Did you get an owie?"

"Mommy's crying because she's so happy," Akane explained. She motioned for Ranma to come over next to her. "Jina, I want you to meet someone special. This is your daddy, Jina."

The little girl's eyes widened, and she beamed a bright smile. "Daddy?! Daddy!" She reached up her arms toward Ranma to be held. And hold her he did. Ranma held her close, kissed her nose and cheeks, told her how much he loved her, and even though Jina knew no Japanese, she didn't need Akane to translate what Ranma was telling her, nor did Ranma. "I love you too, Daddy." And she cuddled up against his broad chest, falling back asleep. A much lighter sleep than before.

Akane leaned over against Ranma, and he wrapped his other arm around her, kissing her softly on the lips, whispering a soft, "I love you." They both knew that they had other things to tell Jina, about the baby, and wedding party, but since the child was tired, they let it rest for now and decided to tell her later, when she woke up again.

Ukyo and Ryoga left quietly, deciding it was best to leave the new family alone for a while. "Someday," Ukyo said as they walked out into the beautiful sunshine, "I want a family just like that, Ryoga."

"Then someday, Ukyo," he replied softly as his hand found hers, "you will get one." With no other words, they kissed, long and sweet.

* * *

Author's note: There's my latest chapter. Please review if you have any comments, or e-mail me. Either way, I don't mind at all. Considering that I actually checked my mail today. I'm now going to work on my epilogue, since it didn't exactly meet with my approval as it is written out. Expect it within a week or two. I still have a few loose ends to tie up in the epilogue. Oh, and about the Japanese words I have, I'm pretty sure that most of them are right. It was the way that I was taught them. Please just bear with me. . .I know it's gonna be hard, but. . .Well anyways, See ya soon!

--halliegirl

hai- yes