Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Final Fantasy VI, nor do I pretend to. Even if I did the army of lawyers that would come after me would make me change my mind.^_^
Note: I'm placing this before manga 22 and the anime equivalent when Nodoka Saotome is introduced. Therefore I'll be taking some liberties both with the situation and her character. Please try and bear with me.
This chapter is dedicated to Jerry, who helped me get over the terrible block I was having, and who without this chapter might never have been finished. Thanks Jerry!
Thanks to my pre-readers Kell Shock and Netara! You guys are the best!
The Nerima Returners
A Final Fantasy VI and Ranma 1/2 Crossover
By Jade Dixon
Chapter 2- The Accident
Last Revised: August 20, 2003
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It had started out innocently enough. It wasn't an uncommon occurence in Nerima at all. Somebody would start chasing Ranma; others who had an interest in Ranma (romantically or otherwise) would join in the chase to make sure that their claim was represented. Eventually, half of Nerima would be involved, or so it would seem. Little did those involved realize that, one day, that regular activity would nearly turn deadly.
It was a chase like any other. Except, perhaps, for the fact that on this particular day, they had ventured farther out than usual, all the way to the outskirts of Nerima, where the people weren't as used to the chaos that followed Ranma. That fact would be a blessing in the end. However, because they were not used to the area, they did not realize that there was a deep ravine, and that they were headed directly towards it.
Although Ranma was usually aware of his surroundings, and would have been able to avoid the drop, at the moment where he especially needed to have been paying attention, he was distracted by attacks from both Ryoga and Kuno, who were caught up in the heat of battle. It was Akane who finally noticed where they were headed at the last minute. In desperation, she tried to warn those who were locked in battle with a cry of "Look out!"
Ryoga and Kuno, both very attuned to listening to what Akane was saying, immediately took in their surroundings, and managed to keep from going over the edge, although just barely. Ranma was not so fortunate. Disoriented by the sudden cessation of the fight, it took a second too long to register Akane's warning, and by then it was too late. He had already slipped off the edge.
The last thing he saw before casting his attention towards salvaging the situation were the worried faces of all the people of Nerima that had put him in this position.
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As he fell, it seemed to him that time had slowed down. He looked around desperately trying to find something, anything, to grab onto. Seeing a branch rapidly approaching, he quickly angled his body so that he could grab onto it more easily. As his body's inertia tried to keep going after he had gotten a hold of it, he felt a wrenching pain in his arm sockets, before his body settled. A pang of dismay swept through Ranma as he heard a cracking sound. The branch wasn't going to hold. And he wasn't even going to get a chance to try and swing himself back up to the top of the ravine, any attempt would just make the branch break that much quicker. The pig-tailed martial artist wished that the branch had been farther down, so that at least there would be less of a drop once it gave out. Then he no longer had any time to wish, as the branch broke, and he began to plummet again.
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Shampoo was standing, just staring blankly ahead. She was numb with shock. Mousse tried to comfort her, but she wasn't paying any attention to him. Ukyo had tears streaming down her face as she watched her Ranchan, her fiancé, her *friend*, fall. Akane was watching too, but denial coated her face. She kept waiting for Ranma to do something, something that would save him from this situation. She had smiled with relief when he had grabbed the branch, but that relief had soon turned into despair when she watched it break under his weight. Kuno was forced to restrain Kodachi as she tried to jump after him, believing that she could help in some way. Ryoga didn't know what to do, or feel, which resulted in him just standing there, trying to make sense of the situation. All of the others who had been involved in the chase had discreetly made themselves scarce when they realized that something had gone wrong.
It wasn't until they heard, or in some cases watched, Ranma's impact with the ground that things changed slightly. Shampoo sunk to her knees, reverting to Chinese in her distress. "Wo da airen..." she whispered brokenly. Mousse put a comforting arm around her shoulders, his head bowed in respect for his rival. Akane, already kneeling at the edge of the ravine, bent her head and allowed the tears to flow, a broken "Ranma..." escaping her lips. Her hands clenched until her knuckles turned white from the strain. Like Mousse, Ryoga bent his head, hoping that somehow Ranma had managed to survive. 'It shouldn't have ended like this!' he thought furiously to himself. Kuno allowed his grip on his sister to slacken, as she slumped against him, her body trembling as she tried to hold back her emotions. It was Ukyo who reacted the most violently, however, as a ragged cry of "RANCHAN!!" tore itself from her throat. That seemed to be a cue for herself, and the other girls, to break down into heavy sobs.
A few minutes later, they heard a sound that gave them a shred of hope. The shrill cry of sirens, as ambulances and other emergency vehicles approached the scene. Somebody in the area, being unused to such violent fighting, had reported what had happened.
********************
When they had arrived at the hospital, Akane had enough sense to call her sisters and tell them what had happened. Soon enough, Kasumi and Nabiki had arrived. Nabiki immediately took charge of talking to the doctors about what Ranma's condition was, while Kasumi did her best to comfort the others. She went to each of them, offering a smile, some encouraging words, and something to eat. And by the time she finished with one person, and went to the next, they felt a bit better about the situation.
When Nabiki returned from her talk with a nurse, she felt glad that she had referred to Ranma in the terms of how he was found, and not by a physical description. It appeared he had landed in some water, which had triggered the curse. Had she started asking for a black-haired male when they had brought in a red-headed female, there might have been some uncomfortable questions asked. She walked up to the others and motioned quietly for their attention. It *was* a hospital after all.
She took stock of who was there. Kasumi, who had arrived with her, and Akane who had called them in. Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi were also there, filling out the rest of Ranma's four main 'love interests', as she had privately dubbed them. In the 'rivals' category were Mousse and Kuno. Ryoga had wandered off and gotten lost on the way to the hospital, apparently.
Before she could begin to tell them the little that she had found out so far, Kuno interrupted her. "What sorcery is at work here, Tendo Nabiki? Why is it that Saotome was the one who fell, and yet the authorities retrieved the body of my beloved pig-tailed girl? Answer me!"
Kuno was beginning to attract attention to their group with his ranting, as he wasn't exactly being quiet about it, so Nabiki shot him an icy glare. "Quiet, Kuno!" she ordered him. Then she realized that she was going to have to try and explain the curse to him and his sister if she wanted them to understand what was going on. An absent thought flickered across her mind, a regret that she wouldn't be able to make a profit off of the situation, but she squashed it ruthlessly. This was neither the time nor place. She sighed and let her cold demeanour defrost a bit as she looked at the Kuno siblings. Kodachi was watching her with interest, curiosity as to how she would answer the question overriding her grief.
Deciding that it would be best to keep the story as simple as possible, she decided to tell them the plain facts about how Ranma had gotten his curse.
"Alright, listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once," she started with a bit of impatience. "Shortly before Ranma arrived in Nerima, he and his father went to China to train. They went to the Jusenkyo training grounds and fought each other over the pools there. Ranma knocked his father into one of the pools, and a panda wearing his father's clothes came out. It knocked Ranma into a different pool, and when he surfaced, he had been turned into a girl. Turns out that the pools were cursed, and you turned into whatever drowned there. Hot water returns you to normal until the next time you're hit with cold water. Ranma and the pig-tailed girl are the same person." Not checking to see if they'd digested the story or not, she quickly moved on. "As Kuno mentioned, Ranma was brought in as a girl. Apparently the heavy rains we've been having for the past week left some puddles in the bottom of the chasm, which Ranma landed in. The doctors are still checking her over, but someone should be out soon to tell us what her condition is." Having given out her information, Nabiki moved over to one of the chairs in the waiting room and sat down, keeping an eye out for any approaching doctors who might have news of Ranma's condition. Mousse and Kuno remained standing, while Kasumi sat down beside Nabiki. Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi all sat down next to each other, too upset to realize that they usually didn't like to be around the others.
It was an hour before a doctor finally approached their group. Nabiki and Kasumi stood up to greet him.
"Well," he began, "I have some good news and some bad news." Nabiki let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't been sure there was going to be *any* good news. The four girls still sitting down perked up at the mention of 'good news', as well. The doctor continued. "The good news is that most of her injuries aren't that severe. Because we've been having so much rain lately, the ground was very soft where she landed, preventing some more serious injuries. She's sprained a few muscles and will likely be sore when she wakes up, but overall, she's a very lucky girl." He paused a moment to let that sink in, before continuing. "The bad news is that she appears to have hit her head on a rock when she landed, or perhaps on the way down. She has a minor head wound. Unfortunately, head wounds often tend to be tricky, so we'd like to keep her under observation for a while after she wakes up. Besides that, though, I don't see any problem with letting family visit. Are any of you family?"
Nabiki grimaced, and Kasumi spoke up. "She's been staying with our family for a while now with her father. But he left with Father two weeks ago, and we don't know when they'll be back, or how to get in contact with them." She frowned a little, the expression very out of place on the normally smiling girl's face.
"How about her mother?" the doctor tried.
Kasumi was about to respond that they had never met Ranma's mother, when Nabiki gasped and snapped her fingers in realization. "We have Mrs. Saotome's address at home, Kasumi! She used to be good friends with Mom, remember?" Not waiting for a response from her sister she turned and asked the doctor, "Could some of us visit in the meantime?"
To most of the people assembled's dismay, the doctor shook his head. "Until she wakes up, I'd prefer if only family visited." Nabiki nodded in acknowledgement, and the doctor left. She turned and faced the others.
"Okay, people," she told them, "Let's all head home and get some rest. The hospital will contact us if there's any change, and we'll let you know as soon as they do. While we're waiting, I'm going to try and find Mom's old address book, or some clue as to where Mrs. Saotome lives." All of the others nodded, although Kuno did wind up having to escort Kodachi out. They all split up, and went to their respective homes to get some rest.
********************
The next day found the middle Tendo daughter searching through her mother's old stuff. Nabiki smirked in satisfaction when she finally managed to dig up her mother's old address book. It was times like this that she was glad that her dad was so sentimental. Flipping through, she eventually found and address for a 'Saotome Nodoka', which she hoped was Ranma's mom. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that the address was only a short train ride away. That meant she could probably find Mrs. Saotome today, and make arrangements for a hospital visit.
She was passing by Akane's room on her way out, when she paused at her sister's open door. The youngest Tendo just sat on her bed, staring at the wall. 'Poor kid,' she thought to herself. 'She's taking this pretty badly.' She stepped into the room, but the blue-haired girl didn't seem to notice. "Hey, Akane," she began, to get her sister's attention. When Akane finally looked at her, she realized that she didn't know what to say. She wasn't good at the comforting business; that was Kasumi's gig. She looked down at the address book she held in her hands and decided that if she couldn't comfort her sister, she could at least keep her mind off of things. "I found Mrs. Saotome's address," she mentioned, holding up their mother's book. "Do you think you could go and explain to her what's going on? I've got things I need to do today," which was a lie, "and Kasumi needs to wait to hear back from the hospital." While she had been talking, she had begun to walk over to Akane's bed, where the girl was sitting, and held the address book out to her. Akane reached out and took the book, and finally some life seemed to seep back into her eyes.
"Okay," she said. Her voice a bit hoarse from all the crying she had done the night before. She smiled weakly at her sister as she stood up and left her room. "Thanks, Nabiki."
"You know, Akane, people usually don't thank people for giving them work to do," Nabiki teased. Akane just smiled again, this time with a touch of exasperation.
"You know what I meant." And then Akane left to catch a train to the area that Mrs. Saotome lived in.
'You've grown soft,' Mauduin whispered into her head, with the same teasing tone she had just used on Akane.
Nabiki didn't dignify that with a response.
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A coppery haired woman answered the door of the Saotome residence when Akane finally arrived. She was dressed in a summer kimono, and her hair was tied into a bun in the back. "Can I help you?" she asked Akane.
Akane paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. Then she realized that she had better make sure that this was Ranma's mother before she started telling this woman about the entire situation. "Umm... Is this the Saotome residence?" she queried politely.
"Yes."
"My name's Tendo Akane," she began. The woman's eyes widened in recognition of the name 'Tendo'. "I was wondering if you were Ranma's mother?" If the lady's eyes had gone wide before, they became saucers at the mention of Ranma. She quickly ushered Akane in, and made her comfortable in a small, cozy, living room. She asked Akane if she would like any tea, which Akane politely declined.
"You know my son?" Nodoka asked, her voice trembling slightly. Akane wasn't quite sure what to make of it so she nodded cautiously, and then elaborated.
"He and Mr. Saotome have been staying with my family for a while now. He's in my class at Furinkan High School, too."
"Genma? He's at the dojo?" she inquired. Akane wondered for a minute about how she knew about the dojo, but then remembered what Nabiki had said; that their mother and Mrs. Saotome had been good friends.
"Well, actually," Akane began, wincing slightly, "he and my father left on a training trip a little while ago. We don't know when exactly to expect them back." At this point, Nodoka's face went disturbingly blank.
"You're sister... Kasumi right?" at Akane's nod, Nodoka continued. "Kasumi's nineteen now, isn't she? Is she the one left in charge, or has she married and left home already?"
"No Kasumi is still home, and she is the one in charge of us seeing as how she usually takes care of us anyways. Why? Is something wrong?"
"I will have words with my husband and your father when they return," the older lady said severely. "It isn't right to leave a nineteen year old girl in charge of a group of high school students alone, when she is hardly out of high school herself. What if an emergency happened?" Akane couldn't look Mrs. Saotome in the face. Quickly the coppery haired woman noticed, and her stern demeanour faded, replaced with deep-rooted concern. "Is everything all right, dear? What's happened?" Akane couldn't bring herself to look at Mrs. Saotome. Her shoulders began to shake a bit, as tears began to well up again. Nodoka went pale. "My son." Akane hiccoughed, the tears getting harder to hold back. "What's wrong with my son?!" she asked in a slight panic.
Finally, the dam burst, and the tears began to pour from the blue haired girl's eyes. She brought her hands to her face, in an attempt to muffle her sobs. She heard a rustle of clothing as the older lady came to sit beside her. Akane was wrapped in a gentle hug and rocked slightly until her tears abated. When she finally looked up again, she saw how pale Mrs. Saotome was, and that she had started to cry as well. "He... He's in hospital," she finally managed to grate out. And then, like her tears had just a moment before, the story about what had happened flooded from her mouth. When she was through, Nodoka took a few moments to collect herself from the shock she had just received. Then she turned to Akane, her eyes grave.
"Ten years ago, my husband took my child from me so that he could be trained in the martial arts away from my 'coddling influences'." There was bitterness in her voice as she spoke the last words. "Since then, I have gotten sparse post-cards, but nothing in years. My husband has been staying with your family for some time you say, and yet he did not deem it necessary to contact me. And now, I find that my son has been injured, in a situation that had things been only slightly different, he would not have survived. Had I known this would be the result all those years ago, I would not have let them go, with only a promise, that means nothing to me, as a guarantee of their safe return." Her jaw was clenched, as she fought anger, rooted in ten years of loneliness. She took several deep calming breaths as she tried to regain control of her emotions. In the meantime, Akane tried to figure out what Mr. Saotome could have possibly promised.
"The doctor said that family could visit, did he not?" she asked in a controlled voice. Akane nodded. "Then will you come with me to the hospital? I think I would like to see my son now."
Akane was about to agree, when she realized with a rush that she hadn't told Mrs. Saotome about the curse yet! "A... actually," she stuttered, "there is something I still have to tell you..." she trailed off. Seeing that Akane was having trouble, Nodoka softened her face, and gave the girl a motherly smile.
"Come now, dear. Whatever it is, it can't be any worse, can it?"
Akane winced. "It... it all depends on your point of view, I suppose," she evaded for a moment, then steeled herself. Remembering Nabiki's speech to the Kuno's at the hospital she told just the basics. When she was done, Nodoka was looking at her a bit incredulously.
"Is this a joke, Akane? Because if it is, I don't think it's very funny considering the circumstances."
Schooling her face into her most serious expression, Akane looked Mrs. Saotome directly in the eye and told her, "I'm not laughing." Nodoka looked at her searchingly for a moment, before nodding slightly in acknowledgement.
"I will trust you, for the moment," she informed the younger girl. "But if I have found that you have deceived me, I will not be pleased." Akane acknowledged the statement with a slight incline to her head. Nodoka's features softened again. "Then shall we head off? I am most eager to see my son." Akane smiled, and they left for the hospital together.
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Akane and Nodoka didn't realize that as they entered the hospital together they were being watched. Sasuke saw them both being lead away to see Ranma, Akane being brought along on Mrs. Saotome's insistence. He left to report to Master Kuno and Mistress Kodachi, missing the white robed figure who also left the vicinity.
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Mousse ran quickly to tell his love Shampoo about the treachery of the Tendo's. Obviously Ranma had woken up, yet Tendo Nabiki hadn't kept up her end of the bargain. He only realized after he had told her of how Akane and another girl, possible Nabiki or Kasumi, had gone to see Ranma that he should have put his glasses on first, as it turned out that he had just told Ukyo.
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Shampoo did manage to catch up to Ukyo, using her delivery bike, and happened to arrive at the same time as Kodachi. Kuno was still meditating on the information about the Jusenkyo curses, and thus didn't even allow Sasuke to tell him anything before dismissing him from his presence.
They nodded to each other in a temporary truce, before entering the hospital, intent on finding out where Ranma's room was.
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Nodoka eyed the girl she had been taken to see critically. There was definitely a family resemblance; if only Akane's story hadn't been so hard to believe... For now she wouldn't stain the girl's honour by accusing her of lying. Which left her with the situation that this girl on the bed was actually her son. Her face softened a bit as she took in her child's condition. "He... she, looks so peaceful. I wish I could talk with my son, let him know I'm there if he, she, needs me," Ranma's mother told Akane.
Akane gave a wry little grin. "He may look peaceful now, but when he's up and active, steer clear for fear of injuries." Akane's grin widened into a smile as she described this.
"He was like that as a baby, too," Nodoka added in, smiling slightly. "'Bulldozer Ranma. Stay out of my way'." Both women let out a slight laugh at the thought. Unfortunately the peace was not to last. It was at this moment that the task force that had assembled at the hospital entrance finally discovered their goal.
"You no keep Shampoo away from husband!"
"OHOHOHOHOHO! I will be with my beloved no matter what you do to stop me!"
"You can't keep us out! We deserve our turn to see Ranchan!"
"Open the door!" all three girls yelled in unison.
"What's going on, Akane? Who are they?" asked a startled Nodoka.
"Ranma's fan club. You might want to step back, they'll probably come in armed and ready to attack," Akane gritted out through clenched teeth. She noticed that Nodoka was absently picking at the wrapped bundle she had taken with her before they left the house. Then the door burst open.
Shampoo had her bonbori out, and looked angry enough to use them. Kodachi was twirling a gymnastics ribbon idly, a haughty expression on her face. Ukyo, however, simply had her fists clenched and a betrayed look on her face. Akane faced them, in position to fight if she needed to. Then Ukyo saw Nodoka, and a puzzled look came over her face, her fists loosening. "Who're you?" she asked. That's when Shampoo and Kodachi noticed the stranger, and they echoed Ukyo's statement, confusion clouding their faces. Akane let out a sigh of relief, and released her battle stance.
"Well," she began, "I was hoping to make a more formal introduction later, but this is Ranma's mother. Saotome Nodoka, this is Shampoo, Kuno Kodachi and Kuonji Ukyo," Akane told them all, indicating to each person as she said their name. Almost instantly after Nodoka was introduced, the others began to look a bit ashamed of their actions.
"I should have know better than to trust anything Mousse told me, especially after he mistook me for Shampoo," Ukyo muttered. Shampoo chorused in with a 'Stupid Mousse'. "He told us that you and one of your sisters had gone to visit Ranma," Ukyo explained to the slightly confused Akane. "We thought that Nabiki had decided not to call us and that Ranma had woken up. Sorry about this."
"Shampoo sorry, too." She grinned a bit evilly. "Shampoo have to make delicious roast duck for Akane and Mother Saotome as apology, yes?" Akane silently hoped that she wasn't serious, or that she'd at least use a real duck and not Mousse.
"I was told a similar story by Sasuke. He will have to be punished most gravely for his surveillance error. I also offer my apologies." Kodachi's apology was the least sincere, as she just wished to make a good impression to her darling Ranma's mother.
Nodoka inclined her head slightly, "I accept your apologies. However, while you're here, I would like to hear about how all of you met my son."
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"So that's basically all of the important things that have happened in Ranchan's life," Ukyo finished. "That's how he ended up with three fiancée's and several other romantic interests." At the last bit she glared at Kodachi who ignored her.
"We decided to let the Kuno's in on the curse in hopes of less problems. It seems it wouldn't have mattered." Akane and the other girls glared at each other. Their temporary truce seeming to end once the story telling had begun.
Nodoka carefully considered all that she had heard about her son's life in the last little while. Her mind flitted back to a document in safe keeping at her home, covered in the handprints of a little boy she had lost forever. "Girls, would you mind leaving Akane and I alone with my son. I'd like to see him without a crowd." Nodoka made sure that she had carefully phrased that so that nobody was insulted. Not having any reason left to stay, the three girls mumbled their good-byes and left.
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Akane and Mrs. Saotome had opted to stay the night at the hospital in hopes that Ranma might wake up. Akane made sure to call home and let Kasumi know where she was so that her older sister wouldn't worry. As time wore on, both herself and Nodoka eventually fell into a light slumber. Akane kept waking up, vague impressions of Ranma slipping away if she didn't stay awake absurdly interrupting her sleep. It was in the early hours of the morning, during one her brief periods of being awake that she noticed a slight shift in Ranma's condition. She woke up Nodoka with a slight shake to her shoulder.
"Hmm? What time is it, dear?" she asked sleepily.
"Four in the morning." There was a brief pause." I think that Ranma might be waking up." Akane's voice was a bit unsteady with nervousness.
Nodoka was wide awake now. She glanced around the room from the chair she had fallen asleep in. Her eyes landed on Akane. "What makes you think that, Akane?"
"Well, her breathing's changing and she's started to toss and turn."
"Have you talked to a doctor about this..." Nodoka trailed off as a quiet moan arose from the figure in the bed. Ranma slowly sat up, stretching stiff muscles, placing a hand to her forehead.
"Wh... What happened? Where am I?" the petite redhead asked confused.
"It'll be okay, Ranma," Akane said soothingly. "You had an accident, but you're not that badly hurt. Everything's going to be alright."
"Ranma? Who's Ranma? Is that my name?"
And then Akane's fragile hopes that everything was going to turn out all right shattered.
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Authors Notes:
This is the last of the material that I had revised in advance, so now let's hope that I can keep myself from being lazy and get the rest out at a reasonable pace. Please note that I am a university student with a full course-load, plus I'm looking for a part-time job, so I don't have an abundance of time to spend on this. That being said, it would be reasonable for me to try and get something out at least once a month.^_^ If I don't, feel free to e-mail me, bugging me to find out what the problem is.
Thanks to those who reviewed! Rae, I would have e-mailed you, but you didn't leave an address! Locke and the others won't show up for another few chapters, but Terra will be making regular appearances until they do. In my original outline *winces* they would have shown up in chapter seven, but I think that'll happen sooner now. I won't be able to say for certain until I revise the next couple of chapters.
Note: I'm placing this before manga 22 and the anime equivalent when Nodoka Saotome is introduced. Therefore I'll be taking some liberties both with the situation and her character. Please try and bear with me.
This chapter is dedicated to Jerry, who helped me get over the terrible block I was having, and who without this chapter might never have been finished. Thanks Jerry!
Thanks to my pre-readers Kell Shock and Netara! You guys are the best!
The Nerima Returners
A Final Fantasy VI and Ranma 1/2 Crossover
By Jade Dixon
Chapter 2- The Accident
Last Revised: August 20, 2003
********************
It had started out innocently enough. It wasn't an uncommon occurence in Nerima at all. Somebody would start chasing Ranma; others who had an interest in Ranma (romantically or otherwise) would join in the chase to make sure that their claim was represented. Eventually, half of Nerima would be involved, or so it would seem. Little did those involved realize that, one day, that regular activity would nearly turn deadly.
It was a chase like any other. Except, perhaps, for the fact that on this particular day, they had ventured farther out than usual, all the way to the outskirts of Nerima, where the people weren't as used to the chaos that followed Ranma. That fact would be a blessing in the end. However, because they were not used to the area, they did not realize that there was a deep ravine, and that they were headed directly towards it.
Although Ranma was usually aware of his surroundings, and would have been able to avoid the drop, at the moment where he especially needed to have been paying attention, he was distracted by attacks from both Ryoga and Kuno, who were caught up in the heat of battle. It was Akane who finally noticed where they were headed at the last minute. In desperation, she tried to warn those who were locked in battle with a cry of "Look out!"
Ryoga and Kuno, both very attuned to listening to what Akane was saying, immediately took in their surroundings, and managed to keep from going over the edge, although just barely. Ranma was not so fortunate. Disoriented by the sudden cessation of the fight, it took a second too long to register Akane's warning, and by then it was too late. He had already slipped off the edge.
The last thing he saw before casting his attention towards salvaging the situation were the worried faces of all the people of Nerima that had put him in this position.
*******************
As he fell, it seemed to him that time had slowed down. He looked around desperately trying to find something, anything, to grab onto. Seeing a branch rapidly approaching, he quickly angled his body so that he could grab onto it more easily. As his body's inertia tried to keep going after he had gotten a hold of it, he felt a wrenching pain in his arm sockets, before his body settled. A pang of dismay swept through Ranma as he heard a cracking sound. The branch wasn't going to hold. And he wasn't even going to get a chance to try and swing himself back up to the top of the ravine, any attempt would just make the branch break that much quicker. The pig-tailed martial artist wished that the branch had been farther down, so that at least there would be less of a drop once it gave out. Then he no longer had any time to wish, as the branch broke, and he began to plummet again.
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Shampoo was standing, just staring blankly ahead. She was numb with shock. Mousse tried to comfort her, but she wasn't paying any attention to him. Ukyo had tears streaming down her face as she watched her Ranchan, her fiancé, her *friend*, fall. Akane was watching too, but denial coated her face. She kept waiting for Ranma to do something, something that would save him from this situation. She had smiled with relief when he had grabbed the branch, but that relief had soon turned into despair when she watched it break under his weight. Kuno was forced to restrain Kodachi as she tried to jump after him, believing that she could help in some way. Ryoga didn't know what to do, or feel, which resulted in him just standing there, trying to make sense of the situation. All of the others who had been involved in the chase had discreetly made themselves scarce when they realized that something had gone wrong.
It wasn't until they heard, or in some cases watched, Ranma's impact with the ground that things changed slightly. Shampoo sunk to her knees, reverting to Chinese in her distress. "Wo da airen..." she whispered brokenly. Mousse put a comforting arm around her shoulders, his head bowed in respect for his rival. Akane, already kneeling at the edge of the ravine, bent her head and allowed the tears to flow, a broken "Ranma..." escaping her lips. Her hands clenched until her knuckles turned white from the strain. Like Mousse, Ryoga bent his head, hoping that somehow Ranma had managed to survive. 'It shouldn't have ended like this!' he thought furiously to himself. Kuno allowed his grip on his sister to slacken, as she slumped against him, her body trembling as she tried to hold back her emotions. It was Ukyo who reacted the most violently, however, as a ragged cry of "RANCHAN!!" tore itself from her throat. That seemed to be a cue for herself, and the other girls, to break down into heavy sobs.
A few minutes later, they heard a sound that gave them a shred of hope. The shrill cry of sirens, as ambulances and other emergency vehicles approached the scene. Somebody in the area, being unused to such violent fighting, had reported what had happened.
********************
When they had arrived at the hospital, Akane had enough sense to call her sisters and tell them what had happened. Soon enough, Kasumi and Nabiki had arrived. Nabiki immediately took charge of talking to the doctors about what Ranma's condition was, while Kasumi did her best to comfort the others. She went to each of them, offering a smile, some encouraging words, and something to eat. And by the time she finished with one person, and went to the next, they felt a bit better about the situation.
When Nabiki returned from her talk with a nurse, she felt glad that she had referred to Ranma in the terms of how he was found, and not by a physical description. It appeared he had landed in some water, which had triggered the curse. Had she started asking for a black-haired male when they had brought in a red-headed female, there might have been some uncomfortable questions asked. She walked up to the others and motioned quietly for their attention. It *was* a hospital after all.
She took stock of who was there. Kasumi, who had arrived with her, and Akane who had called them in. Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi were also there, filling out the rest of Ranma's four main 'love interests', as she had privately dubbed them. In the 'rivals' category were Mousse and Kuno. Ryoga had wandered off and gotten lost on the way to the hospital, apparently.
Before she could begin to tell them the little that she had found out so far, Kuno interrupted her. "What sorcery is at work here, Tendo Nabiki? Why is it that Saotome was the one who fell, and yet the authorities retrieved the body of my beloved pig-tailed girl? Answer me!"
Kuno was beginning to attract attention to their group with his ranting, as he wasn't exactly being quiet about it, so Nabiki shot him an icy glare. "Quiet, Kuno!" she ordered him. Then she realized that she was going to have to try and explain the curse to him and his sister if she wanted them to understand what was going on. An absent thought flickered across her mind, a regret that she wouldn't be able to make a profit off of the situation, but she squashed it ruthlessly. This was neither the time nor place. She sighed and let her cold demeanour defrost a bit as she looked at the Kuno siblings. Kodachi was watching her with interest, curiosity as to how she would answer the question overriding her grief.
Deciding that it would be best to keep the story as simple as possible, she decided to tell them the plain facts about how Ranma had gotten his curse.
"Alright, listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once," she started with a bit of impatience. "Shortly before Ranma arrived in Nerima, he and his father went to China to train. They went to the Jusenkyo training grounds and fought each other over the pools there. Ranma knocked his father into one of the pools, and a panda wearing his father's clothes came out. It knocked Ranma into a different pool, and when he surfaced, he had been turned into a girl. Turns out that the pools were cursed, and you turned into whatever drowned there. Hot water returns you to normal until the next time you're hit with cold water. Ranma and the pig-tailed girl are the same person." Not checking to see if they'd digested the story or not, she quickly moved on. "As Kuno mentioned, Ranma was brought in as a girl. Apparently the heavy rains we've been having for the past week left some puddles in the bottom of the chasm, which Ranma landed in. The doctors are still checking her over, but someone should be out soon to tell us what her condition is." Having given out her information, Nabiki moved over to one of the chairs in the waiting room and sat down, keeping an eye out for any approaching doctors who might have news of Ranma's condition. Mousse and Kuno remained standing, while Kasumi sat down beside Nabiki. Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi all sat down next to each other, too upset to realize that they usually didn't like to be around the others.
It was an hour before a doctor finally approached their group. Nabiki and Kasumi stood up to greet him.
"Well," he began, "I have some good news and some bad news." Nabiki let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't been sure there was going to be *any* good news. The four girls still sitting down perked up at the mention of 'good news', as well. The doctor continued. "The good news is that most of her injuries aren't that severe. Because we've been having so much rain lately, the ground was very soft where she landed, preventing some more serious injuries. She's sprained a few muscles and will likely be sore when she wakes up, but overall, she's a very lucky girl." He paused a moment to let that sink in, before continuing. "The bad news is that she appears to have hit her head on a rock when she landed, or perhaps on the way down. She has a minor head wound. Unfortunately, head wounds often tend to be tricky, so we'd like to keep her under observation for a while after she wakes up. Besides that, though, I don't see any problem with letting family visit. Are any of you family?"
Nabiki grimaced, and Kasumi spoke up. "She's been staying with our family for a while now with her father. But he left with Father two weeks ago, and we don't know when they'll be back, or how to get in contact with them." She frowned a little, the expression very out of place on the normally smiling girl's face.
"How about her mother?" the doctor tried.
Kasumi was about to respond that they had never met Ranma's mother, when Nabiki gasped and snapped her fingers in realization. "We have Mrs. Saotome's address at home, Kasumi! She used to be good friends with Mom, remember?" Not waiting for a response from her sister she turned and asked the doctor, "Could some of us visit in the meantime?"
To most of the people assembled's dismay, the doctor shook his head. "Until she wakes up, I'd prefer if only family visited." Nabiki nodded in acknowledgement, and the doctor left. She turned and faced the others.
"Okay, people," she told them, "Let's all head home and get some rest. The hospital will contact us if there's any change, and we'll let you know as soon as they do. While we're waiting, I'm going to try and find Mom's old address book, or some clue as to where Mrs. Saotome lives." All of the others nodded, although Kuno did wind up having to escort Kodachi out. They all split up, and went to their respective homes to get some rest.
********************
The next day found the middle Tendo daughter searching through her mother's old stuff. Nabiki smirked in satisfaction when she finally managed to dig up her mother's old address book. It was times like this that she was glad that her dad was so sentimental. Flipping through, she eventually found and address for a 'Saotome Nodoka', which she hoped was Ranma's mom. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that the address was only a short train ride away. That meant she could probably find Mrs. Saotome today, and make arrangements for a hospital visit.
She was passing by Akane's room on her way out, when she paused at her sister's open door. The youngest Tendo just sat on her bed, staring at the wall. 'Poor kid,' she thought to herself. 'She's taking this pretty badly.' She stepped into the room, but the blue-haired girl didn't seem to notice. "Hey, Akane," she began, to get her sister's attention. When Akane finally looked at her, she realized that she didn't know what to say. She wasn't good at the comforting business; that was Kasumi's gig. She looked down at the address book she held in her hands and decided that if she couldn't comfort her sister, she could at least keep her mind off of things. "I found Mrs. Saotome's address," she mentioned, holding up their mother's book. "Do you think you could go and explain to her what's going on? I've got things I need to do today," which was a lie, "and Kasumi needs to wait to hear back from the hospital." While she had been talking, she had begun to walk over to Akane's bed, where the girl was sitting, and held the address book out to her. Akane reached out and took the book, and finally some life seemed to seep back into her eyes.
"Okay," she said. Her voice a bit hoarse from all the crying she had done the night before. She smiled weakly at her sister as she stood up and left her room. "Thanks, Nabiki."
"You know, Akane, people usually don't thank people for giving them work to do," Nabiki teased. Akane just smiled again, this time with a touch of exasperation.
"You know what I meant." And then Akane left to catch a train to the area that Mrs. Saotome lived in.
'You've grown soft,' Mauduin whispered into her head, with the same teasing tone she had just used on Akane.
Nabiki didn't dignify that with a response.
********************
A coppery haired woman answered the door of the Saotome residence when Akane finally arrived. She was dressed in a summer kimono, and her hair was tied into a bun in the back. "Can I help you?" she asked Akane.
Akane paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. Then she realized that she had better make sure that this was Ranma's mother before she started telling this woman about the entire situation. "Umm... Is this the Saotome residence?" she queried politely.
"Yes."
"My name's Tendo Akane," she began. The woman's eyes widened in recognition of the name 'Tendo'. "I was wondering if you were Ranma's mother?" If the lady's eyes had gone wide before, they became saucers at the mention of Ranma. She quickly ushered Akane in, and made her comfortable in a small, cozy, living room. She asked Akane if she would like any tea, which Akane politely declined.
"You know my son?" Nodoka asked, her voice trembling slightly. Akane wasn't quite sure what to make of it so she nodded cautiously, and then elaborated.
"He and Mr. Saotome have been staying with my family for a while now. He's in my class at Furinkan High School, too."
"Genma? He's at the dojo?" she inquired. Akane wondered for a minute about how she knew about the dojo, but then remembered what Nabiki had said; that their mother and Mrs. Saotome had been good friends.
"Well, actually," Akane began, wincing slightly, "he and my father left on a training trip a little while ago. We don't know when exactly to expect them back." At this point, Nodoka's face went disturbingly blank.
"You're sister... Kasumi right?" at Akane's nod, Nodoka continued. "Kasumi's nineteen now, isn't she? Is she the one left in charge, or has she married and left home already?"
"No Kasumi is still home, and she is the one in charge of us seeing as how she usually takes care of us anyways. Why? Is something wrong?"
"I will have words with my husband and your father when they return," the older lady said severely. "It isn't right to leave a nineteen year old girl in charge of a group of high school students alone, when she is hardly out of high school herself. What if an emergency happened?" Akane couldn't look Mrs. Saotome in the face. Quickly the coppery haired woman noticed, and her stern demeanour faded, replaced with deep-rooted concern. "Is everything all right, dear? What's happened?" Akane couldn't bring herself to look at Mrs. Saotome. Her shoulders began to shake a bit, as tears began to well up again. Nodoka went pale. "My son." Akane hiccoughed, the tears getting harder to hold back. "What's wrong with my son?!" she asked in a slight panic.
Finally, the dam burst, and the tears began to pour from the blue haired girl's eyes. She brought her hands to her face, in an attempt to muffle her sobs. She heard a rustle of clothing as the older lady came to sit beside her. Akane was wrapped in a gentle hug and rocked slightly until her tears abated. When she finally looked up again, she saw how pale Mrs. Saotome was, and that she had started to cry as well. "He... He's in hospital," she finally managed to grate out. And then, like her tears had just a moment before, the story about what had happened flooded from her mouth. When she was through, Nodoka took a few moments to collect herself from the shock she had just received. Then she turned to Akane, her eyes grave.
"Ten years ago, my husband took my child from me so that he could be trained in the martial arts away from my 'coddling influences'." There was bitterness in her voice as she spoke the last words. "Since then, I have gotten sparse post-cards, but nothing in years. My husband has been staying with your family for some time you say, and yet he did not deem it necessary to contact me. And now, I find that my son has been injured, in a situation that had things been only slightly different, he would not have survived. Had I known this would be the result all those years ago, I would not have let them go, with only a promise, that means nothing to me, as a guarantee of their safe return." Her jaw was clenched, as she fought anger, rooted in ten years of loneliness. She took several deep calming breaths as she tried to regain control of her emotions. In the meantime, Akane tried to figure out what Mr. Saotome could have possibly promised.
"The doctor said that family could visit, did he not?" she asked in a controlled voice. Akane nodded. "Then will you come with me to the hospital? I think I would like to see my son now."
Akane was about to agree, when she realized with a rush that she hadn't told Mrs. Saotome about the curse yet! "A... actually," she stuttered, "there is something I still have to tell you..." she trailed off. Seeing that Akane was having trouble, Nodoka softened her face, and gave the girl a motherly smile.
"Come now, dear. Whatever it is, it can't be any worse, can it?"
Akane winced. "It... it all depends on your point of view, I suppose," she evaded for a moment, then steeled herself. Remembering Nabiki's speech to the Kuno's at the hospital she told just the basics. When she was done, Nodoka was looking at her a bit incredulously.
"Is this a joke, Akane? Because if it is, I don't think it's very funny considering the circumstances."
Schooling her face into her most serious expression, Akane looked Mrs. Saotome directly in the eye and told her, "I'm not laughing." Nodoka looked at her searchingly for a moment, before nodding slightly in acknowledgement.
"I will trust you, for the moment," she informed the younger girl. "But if I have found that you have deceived me, I will not be pleased." Akane acknowledged the statement with a slight incline to her head. Nodoka's features softened again. "Then shall we head off? I am most eager to see my son." Akane smiled, and they left for the hospital together.
*******************
Akane and Nodoka didn't realize that as they entered the hospital together they were being watched. Sasuke saw them both being lead away to see Ranma, Akane being brought along on Mrs. Saotome's insistence. He left to report to Master Kuno and Mistress Kodachi, missing the white robed figure who also left the vicinity.
*******************
Mousse ran quickly to tell his love Shampoo about the treachery of the Tendo's. Obviously Ranma had woken up, yet Tendo Nabiki hadn't kept up her end of the bargain. He only realized after he had told her of how Akane and another girl, possible Nabiki or Kasumi, had gone to see Ranma that he should have put his glasses on first, as it turned out that he had just told Ukyo.
********************
Shampoo did manage to catch up to Ukyo, using her delivery bike, and happened to arrive at the same time as Kodachi. Kuno was still meditating on the information about the Jusenkyo curses, and thus didn't even allow Sasuke to tell him anything before dismissing him from his presence.
They nodded to each other in a temporary truce, before entering the hospital, intent on finding out where Ranma's room was.
*******************
Nodoka eyed the girl she had been taken to see critically. There was definitely a family resemblance; if only Akane's story hadn't been so hard to believe... For now she wouldn't stain the girl's honour by accusing her of lying. Which left her with the situation that this girl on the bed was actually her son. Her face softened a bit as she took in her child's condition. "He... she, looks so peaceful. I wish I could talk with my son, let him know I'm there if he, she, needs me," Ranma's mother told Akane.
Akane gave a wry little grin. "He may look peaceful now, but when he's up and active, steer clear for fear of injuries." Akane's grin widened into a smile as she described this.
"He was like that as a baby, too," Nodoka added in, smiling slightly. "'Bulldozer Ranma. Stay out of my way'." Both women let out a slight laugh at the thought. Unfortunately the peace was not to last. It was at this moment that the task force that had assembled at the hospital entrance finally discovered their goal.
"You no keep Shampoo away from husband!"
"OHOHOHOHOHO! I will be with my beloved no matter what you do to stop me!"
"You can't keep us out! We deserve our turn to see Ranchan!"
"Open the door!" all three girls yelled in unison.
"What's going on, Akane? Who are they?" asked a startled Nodoka.
"Ranma's fan club. You might want to step back, they'll probably come in armed and ready to attack," Akane gritted out through clenched teeth. She noticed that Nodoka was absently picking at the wrapped bundle she had taken with her before they left the house. Then the door burst open.
Shampoo had her bonbori out, and looked angry enough to use them. Kodachi was twirling a gymnastics ribbon idly, a haughty expression on her face. Ukyo, however, simply had her fists clenched and a betrayed look on her face. Akane faced them, in position to fight if she needed to. Then Ukyo saw Nodoka, and a puzzled look came over her face, her fists loosening. "Who're you?" she asked. That's when Shampoo and Kodachi noticed the stranger, and they echoed Ukyo's statement, confusion clouding their faces. Akane let out a sigh of relief, and released her battle stance.
"Well," she began, "I was hoping to make a more formal introduction later, but this is Ranma's mother. Saotome Nodoka, this is Shampoo, Kuno Kodachi and Kuonji Ukyo," Akane told them all, indicating to each person as she said their name. Almost instantly after Nodoka was introduced, the others began to look a bit ashamed of their actions.
"I should have know better than to trust anything Mousse told me, especially after he mistook me for Shampoo," Ukyo muttered. Shampoo chorused in with a 'Stupid Mousse'. "He told us that you and one of your sisters had gone to visit Ranma," Ukyo explained to the slightly confused Akane. "We thought that Nabiki had decided not to call us and that Ranma had woken up. Sorry about this."
"Shampoo sorry, too." She grinned a bit evilly. "Shampoo have to make delicious roast duck for Akane and Mother Saotome as apology, yes?" Akane silently hoped that she wasn't serious, or that she'd at least use a real duck and not Mousse.
"I was told a similar story by Sasuke. He will have to be punished most gravely for his surveillance error. I also offer my apologies." Kodachi's apology was the least sincere, as she just wished to make a good impression to her darling Ranma's mother.
Nodoka inclined her head slightly, "I accept your apologies. However, while you're here, I would like to hear about how all of you met my son."
********************
"So that's basically all of the important things that have happened in Ranchan's life," Ukyo finished. "That's how he ended up with three fiancée's and several other romantic interests." At the last bit she glared at Kodachi who ignored her.
"We decided to let the Kuno's in on the curse in hopes of less problems. It seems it wouldn't have mattered." Akane and the other girls glared at each other. Their temporary truce seeming to end once the story telling had begun.
Nodoka carefully considered all that she had heard about her son's life in the last little while. Her mind flitted back to a document in safe keeping at her home, covered in the handprints of a little boy she had lost forever. "Girls, would you mind leaving Akane and I alone with my son. I'd like to see him without a crowd." Nodoka made sure that she had carefully phrased that so that nobody was insulted. Not having any reason left to stay, the three girls mumbled their good-byes and left.
********************
Akane and Mrs. Saotome had opted to stay the night at the hospital in hopes that Ranma might wake up. Akane made sure to call home and let Kasumi know where she was so that her older sister wouldn't worry. As time wore on, both herself and Nodoka eventually fell into a light slumber. Akane kept waking up, vague impressions of Ranma slipping away if she didn't stay awake absurdly interrupting her sleep. It was in the early hours of the morning, during one her brief periods of being awake that she noticed a slight shift in Ranma's condition. She woke up Nodoka with a slight shake to her shoulder.
"Hmm? What time is it, dear?" she asked sleepily.
"Four in the morning." There was a brief pause." I think that Ranma might be waking up." Akane's voice was a bit unsteady with nervousness.
Nodoka was wide awake now. She glanced around the room from the chair she had fallen asleep in. Her eyes landed on Akane. "What makes you think that, Akane?"
"Well, her breathing's changing and she's started to toss and turn."
"Have you talked to a doctor about this..." Nodoka trailed off as a quiet moan arose from the figure in the bed. Ranma slowly sat up, stretching stiff muscles, placing a hand to her forehead.
"Wh... What happened? Where am I?" the petite redhead asked confused.
"It'll be okay, Ranma," Akane said soothingly. "You had an accident, but you're not that badly hurt. Everything's going to be alright."
"Ranma? Who's Ranma? Is that my name?"
And then Akane's fragile hopes that everything was going to turn out all right shattered.
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Authors Notes:
This is the last of the material that I had revised in advance, so now let's hope that I can keep myself from being lazy and get the rest out at a reasonable pace. Please note that I am a university student with a full course-load, plus I'm looking for a part-time job, so I don't have an abundance of time to spend on this. That being said, it would be reasonable for me to try and get something out at least once a month.^_^ If I don't, feel free to e-mail me, bugging me to find out what the problem is.
Thanks to those who reviewed! Rae, I would have e-mailed you, but you didn't leave an address! Locke and the others won't show up for another few chapters, but Terra will be making regular appearances until they do. In my original outline *winces* they would have shown up in chapter seven, but I think that'll happen sooner now. I won't be able to say for certain until I revise the next couple of chapters.