The soft whistle of wind mingled with the deep breathing of exhaustion.

"Ranma! Ryouga! Would you two please stop this stupid fighting!? One of you is going to get seriously hurt."

"Can't do that Akane. This has been a long time coming and one of us is going to walk away from this the winner."

"That's right Akane. I'm sorry but we have to do this."

"You....you stupid IDIOTS!!! Both of you are so stupid! You don't have to fight! Stop it right now!"

The crackle of released energy.

"SHI SHI HOUKOUDAN!!!!"

And again.

"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!!"

An explosion.

"RANMAAAAA!!!! RYOOOOOUGAAAAA!!!!"

Silence. Forever.

Pains of the Past
By Johnny O'Brien
Part Four

Ranma stood rooted to the spot and stared incredulously at Tatewaki. He spared a glance to Ryouga and saw he hadn't moved to kill Tatewaki yet so he figured Ryouga was still in shock. He looked to the remains of the flowers on the ground, the bouquet cleaved cleanly in half. Ranma was a very easy going person as most everyone would tell you and he hated just about no one. He reflected over his life and realized the closest he had ever come to hating someone was the time he found about the seppuku promise his father made to his mother. That was as close as he'd ever gotten to hating someone else....until now. He hated Tatewaki. Fully and completely he hated him now. He doubted he'd be able to look at Tatewaki now without feeling the urge to beat him to within an inch of his life.

He looked. He stared. He listened to Tatewaki spout of some nonsense in a righteous voice as if he was the savior of all that was good in the world. If he hadn't been so angry at Tatewaki he would have laughed. Instead he calmed down, perhaps a bit too much. He felt all emotion drain out of him as he stared at Tatewaki. He knew everyone else was staring at him, waiting for him to say or do something. He decided as they were waiting on him he might as well do something.

"Kuno you self-centered, delusional idiot; I don't believe you just did that. I always knew you were stupid Kuno but this is beyond even you. You have no idea what you've just done to us. But you will. Oh yes. You most definitely will." Ranma said and grinned lightly at Tatewaki, a slightly crazed look forming in his eyes. Tatewaki blinked at that and opened his mouth to speak but paused as he saw the look in Ranma's eyes. It was familiar to him. He reached way back into his intellect searching for an answer. He got one in an image of another pair of eyes, his sister's. He realized then what was familiar about Ranma's eyes. The crazed look, the raging insanity tightly confined by a gossamer thin veil of normality. Tatewaki then felt something he was not used to feeling.

Fear. Fear of death. Tatewaki banished the fear as best he could and steeled himself for a fight, should it come to that. He was Tatewaki Kuno, the White Thunder of Nerima and if death was to take him this day he would not give him an easy job of it.

"Saotome...." Kuno began.

"You shut up.", Ranma silenced him with a sudden intense hiss of words, only narrowly escaping from his tightly compressed mouth. Ranma paused and took a deep breath before allowing the grin to return to his face. He brought a finger up to his lips slowly.

"Shhhhhh. You don't speak. You no longer have the right to. Not anymore, you self absorbed asshole. Now you get to listen. So listen well because I won't repeat myself." Ranma said and pauses to chuckle a little. Tatewaki could only blink in shock. Everyone else just stared at Ranma too shocked and scared to really do anything, with the exceptions of Soun and Ryouga, who really didn't notice.

"You don't know what you've just done to us Kuno, but I'll tell you. I'll tell all of you what you've all done to us. What's that? You didn't do anything to us? Liars, you are all of you; liars. You all did it. You all shunned us and condemned us. You didn't even give us a chance to explain ourselves. Isn't that right? Come on don't be shy. You can speak, except Kuno." Ranma said looking around at everybody gathered there. Nobody said anything.

"What's wrong? Come on. Say something! I won't kill you." Ranma said to them again his voice going cold during the last part as he glared almost accusingly.

"Ranma. I didn't....I mean we didn't shun you." Kasumi said softly looking to him with compassion.

"That's right. You didn't have to leave Ranma", Dr. Tofu said calmly lightly giving his wife's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"You are all liars! We didn't have to leave doctor? You really think that? Well you're wrong. You try living in a place where everyone looks at you like you're a murderer. You try going about a daily life when everyone whispers about you behind your back! Where all your friends start making excuses so they don't have to be seen with you in public! Of course we had to leave! You all turned your backs on us as soon as you found Akane was dead and we had been fighting just before. You didn't even give us a chance to explain!", Ranma preached to them watching as in turn Kasumi, Dr. Tofu, Shampoo, Mousse, Yuka, Sayuri and several others just lowered their heads in light of his words.

"Ranma..." Shampoo looked up and began to say.

"Shhh! Shhhh. No. Don't apologize. I don't want your apology. It's too late for that Shampoo. Far too late! You don't know because it never happened to you. It happened to me and Ryouga. I'll bet it was easy for you to just move back to China and forget all about us. Just leave us here like the trash we are huh? Do you know what it's like Shampoo to keep dreaming of her? To keep reliving that moment over and over and over again? To keep seeing her smile at us just moments before she fell? You can't know! You can't. But I can. And Ryouga can. Because we do; we relive that moment every time we close our eyes." Ranma said and turned away from Shampoo to look to Ryouga. He sighed heavily as silence slowly began to settle over them but it didn't last long.

"You didn't want to listen to us then, when we really needed you all to, but you'll listen now. What the hell since I've got your attention. You all think it was our fault Akane died do you? You're wrong. It isn't! It never was! We tried to save her! You see she tried to stop us from fighting, me and Ryouga. We didn't and unleashed a chi blast at each other. The explosion knocked us back and Akane over the side of a cliff. She hung on and was slipping but we got to her in time and pulled her back up safely. We then promised her we wouldn't fight anymore and she smiled at us. She was always so beautiful when she smiled. She went to stand up and the ground fell out from under her. I leapt to catch her and Ryouga caught me but I couldn't reach her in time and we had to watch her fall. We had to listen to her scream for help. We had to watch her die." Ranma said and looked up at the sad, mournful and regretful faces of those gathered around.

Ranma just shook his head and turned his back on the whole group lowering his head. Ukyou moved over to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. A rumble of thunder rolled across the sky. Ranma laughed a little to himself and turned back to the group, brushing Ukyou's hand off him as he did.

"You want to know what the funny thing is? Even after everything we endured from all of you here we ended up punishing ourselves far more than any of you ever could. Yeah. Look at me. I look the same don't I?" Ranma said and took a moment to pull his shirt off over his head and throw it on the ground. His bare and muscular chest was seen clearly, along with the many scars on it. There were cuts, scraps, burns and a couple areas of shredded skin. He turned around a bit showing his back to be much the same. Everyone just looked at him and swallowed.

"See. This happens about every four months when I can't take it anymore. Then I explode and start destroying everything around me. I usually end up in bed for a couple of weeks after from the damage I do to myself. My legs are just as bad as my arms and chest if you're wondering. And if you think I'm bad Ryouga's ten times as worse. Go on look at him now. Look at him!! Look!! You see him. He's not even moving! We came here to pay our respects to a beautiful women we both loved. But we can't now. Our only chance was ruined. We only had one chance at this and now it's gone. I'm surprised Ryouga hasn't gone nuts already. You think he won't? Believe me he will. It's been five years since Akane's death and Ryouga's tried to kill himself fifteen times. At least three times a year he nearly kills himself. He's tried to slit his wrists, hang himself, and shoot himself in the head. That's how bad he is. He doesn't think he has the right to live. You see what you've all done to us. Do you?" Ranma said to them all and shook his head. He then turned and glared right at Tatewaki.

"Do you see what you've done to us now Kuno?!! You took away our only chance to apologize to Akane! You took that away from us! All we wanted was to say our peace and leave but you couldn't let us. You just had to involve yourself. Well I hope you're happy Kuno. I hope you're damn happy because you finally did it. You finally beat me. Congratulations." Ranma said sarcastically and turned walking over to Ryouga's side and crouching down. Ukyou glared at Tatewaki and walked over.

"Kuno I don't care what you think or what you feel but you take you pompous ass at least a mile from here right now or I'm personally going to make you.", Ukyou whispered harshly and turned heading for Ryouga as well. Tatewaki swallowed and paused in thought for a moment. He took a hesitant step backwards, and another before he turned and began to run very fast away from Ranma. Kodachi, glanced after her brother and then to Ranma before mumbling a quick apology and taking off after her brother.

"Ranma. Is he alright?" Ukyou asked as she crouched down on Ryouga's other side.

"I don't know Ucchan." Ranma said and tried to get Ryouga to acknowledge his presence.

"Maybe I can help." Dr. Tofu said and moved towards Ryouga. Ryouga blinked, tears falling onto the flowers he stared at. He had once again failed Akane and this he vowed would be the last time.

"Akane.....I'm sorry. I won't ever fail you again. I promise." Ryouga whispered softly. Ranma began to panic knowing that tone of voice.

"Ryouga! No Ryouga! Calm down. Come on it's me Ranma I'm here calm down!" Ranma said moving to get a hold on Ryouga when he suddenly leapt to his feet knocking Ranma off of him. He turned and leaped over the heads of the group and landed breaking off into a run, tears trailing back down his cheeks.

"Damn it! We gotta get him!" Ranma said leaping to his feet taking after Ryouga.

"Oh no. Ryouga!" Ukyou shouted after.

"My son. Ryouga! Come back dear!" Nodoka cried out and took off as well followed by Genma.

"Aiya. What going on?" Shampoo asked.

"I don't know child but we'd better find out. Everybody after them!" Cologne commanded and she, Shampoo, Mousse, Dr. Tofu, and Nabiki ran after the rest of them. After a few moments they had caught up with everyone but Ranma and Ryouga who were farther ahead.

"What's going on here Ukyou?" Nabiki asked as she fought to keep up. She kept in good shape but no where near as good as the others.

"It's Ryouga. Damn it why'd this have to happen now!" Ukyou said with a definite hint of self-loathing in her voice.

"What are talking about?!" Nabiki asked getting annoyed.

"She means that Ryouga has gone over the edge…again. He's going to kill himself if we don't stop him." Genma said calmly. Nodoka cried out a little and held back her tears speeding up a bit. Nabiki blinked and slowed down a bit before she picked up again. Was Ryouga really that far gone? She knew one thing. If he was they had to catch him soon or else they might all be toast. She for one did not want to let him go supernova with that chi blast of his, especially with her close enough to be vaporized in an instant.

Ranma could see Ryouga just ten feet ahead of him but he knew it might as well be a hundred feet as he wasn't making any headway. Ryouga was just running too fast to catch, but he continued trying. Damn that Kuno! He knew Ryouga had been depressed, more than usual, before coming here and now this happens. He had to catch Ryouga. There was no way he was going to let him die. Now way in hell. He glanced to the left as something caught his eye; a gnarled tree. It looked familiar. He glanced around as he ran and realization slowly dawned. He was running back there. Back to the place...where she died. But there hadn't been a cemetery anywhere near there five years ago. Five years was a long time for things to change and their sight-seeing earlier had shown them that much had changed here.

"Oh God no Ryouga, not here of all places no! RYOUGAAAAAAA!!!" Ranma shouted and poured on the speed more beginning to gain on Ryouga but he saw it was too late. The cliff was fast approaching. He'd never make it in time. He saw Ryouga's battle aura form as he ran, a chi sphere forming in front of him about three feet in diameter.

"No god no no no no no no no!! Don't do this don't take him away. Please don't take him away I need him! Don't take him away from me dammit!!" Ranma shouted tears forming in his eyes as he ran. He viciously wiped them away and saw Ryouga reach the edge of the cliff and leap high into the sky off the cliff. He felt his heart leap into his throat as he kept running and watched Ryouga soar higher and higher, his aura burning around him, lighting him up like an angel in the night sky. He subconsciously stopped himself at the edge of the cliff and watched helpless as Ryouga's aura suddenly brightened.

"No.", Ranma whispered softly, but a harsh wind masked his voice and he was the only one to ever hear it.

The group suddenly stopped a good ways behind Ranma and Ryouga when they saw Ryouga leap into the air his aura burning bright enough to be visible the couple hundred feet back where they stood.

"Ryouga?!" Ukyou shouted futilely as she knew she was too late.

"My God he's going to kill us all!" Nabiki shouted horrified.

"No. He isn't.", Genma said and lowered his head.

"What do you mean?" Dr. Tofu asked.

"Oh God! Ryouga no. Ryouga....my son...no." Nodoka managed to get out before dropping to her knees and crying uncontrollably.

"I believe, my good doctor, he means that Ryouga isn't using his chi for an outward attack, but for an inward one." Cologne said and lowered her head as well.

"Aiya! But that..." Shampoo began when Mousse put a hand on her shoulder.

"That amount of chi will no doubt kill him even though it is his own. He wants it to hurt himself, which I think was his plan all along." Mousse said and lowered his head as well. Genma kneeled and brought his wife close to him to comfort her as the sky lit up with a second sun.

"SHIIIII SHIIIII HOOOUUUUKOOOOUUUUDAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!" Ryouga's cry echoed as the sky lit up with hellfire. The sound from his release was like a bomb amplified times ten. The force expanded in a heated wind which shook the ground up to a thousand feet away. The dull grey sky lit up as a huge ball of superheated heavy chi formed and spread out from Ryouga forming for a few moments a second sun almost. Then as quickly as it started the ball of chi stopped expanding and then drew in on itself like a vacuum. It shrunk almost quicker than the eye could follow and left hanging in mid air for a moment was Ryouga, burned and charred all over. Then gravity took over and his limp body fell from its perch in the sky, down, down and landed with a sickening thud on the sand below.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!", Ranma shrieked and leapt off the cliffs bounding down off outcroppings until he reached the bottom and then rushed to Ryouga's side slamming to his knees right beside him. He looked over Ryouga's body in a panic unsure of what to do when he noticed Ryouga wasn't breathing. He immediately began to do CPR on Ryouga. He breathed air into his lungs and pumped his chest to get him to breath. He could smell the stench of Ryouga's burnt skin but ignored it and continued breathing into Ryouga's lungs and pumping his chest.

"Come on Ryouga! Breathe! Breathe damn you breathe!! Dammit it Ryouga you bastard you breathe right now!!", Ranma shouted between breathing, tears forming once again and sliding down his cheeks as he continued to try and revive his lifelong friend. Minutes slowly and achingly passed and Ryouga remained not breathing. Some noises came into focus off behind him, and voices. A hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Ranchan. I think he's....really gone this time." Ukyou said softly and was startled when Ranma turned and pushed her away.

"NO! NO! He's not dead! I won't let him die on me! I won't let him!!!" Ranma shouted and turned back to Ryouga. Ukyou sighed and looked to the rest of them. Nodoka was still crying into Genma's arms. Dr. Tofu slowly moved around to kneel on Ryouga's other side and poked a few pressure points to get his chi flowing but the look on his face was one that he didn't think it would help. Ranma paused briefly only to wipe his tears from both his eyes with his arm before breathing into Ryouga's lungs and pump his chest once again.

"Ryouga! Come on breathe Ryouga breathe! Damn you Ryouga breathe! You can't die on me Ryouga! I won't let you! You hear me! You can't die until I say you can! You hear me! You can't die until I say you can!!! You have to apologize to Akane for me! Remember Ryouga you have to do it because I'm no good at it. Come on Ryouga breathe I won't loose someone else I love! I lost Akane but I'm not going to loose you Ryouga! BREATHE!!!" Ranma shouted at Ryouga between breathing into his lungs. He continued trying to revive him for another two minutes before he stopped and hunched over onto Ryouga's chest just crying. Ukyou paused for a moment and then moved to kneel beside Ranma wrapping her arms around him holding her tears back by sheer will power alone.

"Come on Ranchan. You did everything you could." Ukyou said softly.

"Did I Ucchan? Did I really? Damn you Ryouga! You COWARD! KATSU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!!" Ranma suddenly shouted and slammed several hundred punches into Ryouga chest. Ryouga's body jerked from the multitude of punches and slumped back to normal as Ranma stopped. Then suddenly he inhaled deeply and coughs up some blood.

"Ryouga!!" Ranma shouted and moved over to look right down at Ryouga. Dr. Tofu quickly hit a couple more of Ryouga's chi producing points and checked his pulse. Ryouga breathed in and out slowly and labored. He coughed up some more blood and groaned his eyes slowly opening. Nodoka quickly rushed to Ranma's side and looked down at Ryouga through tear filled eyes.

"Ranma.....that's....twelve I owe you now." Ryouga said laughing a bit but wincing and coughing up yet more blood. Ranma smiled a little and nodded.

"Yeah. Just don't do this again and I'll call it even." Ranma said leaned down lightly hugging him a bit. Nodoka moved quickly after that and hugged Ryouga as well pulling him into her lap and lightly began to stroke his hair.

"Oh thank goodness. Ryouga. Listen to me. Don't do this again. Please my son. No more." Nodoka said her voice cracking. Ranma looked to his mother and smiled a bit more. Ryouga looked up at Nodoka, his vision blurred a bit but he could make out her tears and her pained expression.

"Son?" Ryouga asked confused. Nodoka smiled a little shakily and leaned down placing a kiss upon his forehead.

"Yes. My son. I've come to know you too well and I think of you as my own son now. I would be most proud if I had a son like you and you don't have to call me Mrs. Saotome if you don't want to. You may call me mother if you like." Nodoka said and pulled one of his bandanas off and wiped some blood off his chin and lips. Ryouga coughed a bit and smiled very lightly.

"I'd...like that a lot...mother." Ryouga said and then closed his eyes, passing out.

"Son?!!" Nodoka said worried he had died for real when Tofu placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Mrs. Saotome. He needs to rest. I think he'll be fine but we need to get him to a hospital soon." Dr. Tofu said and nodded to Cologne as she approached to check Ryouga out herself.

"Hospital? Are you joking? With Health Care what it is today?" Nabiki said and then pulled a cellular phone from her jacket pocket and dialed a number. She waited until someone answered.

"Frank! This is what I want you to do. I want my limo on the beach in ten minutes. I want the best doctors in Tokyo rushed to my sister's house immediately along with any equipment they need. Set them up in the guest room. I want it done in twenty-five minutes." Nabiki ordered and hung up. She looked to everyone else and smirked seeing there looks of confusion.

"What? Am I not allowed to help my friends? Fine be that way if you want. I'll have the bill mailed to you." Nabiki said and moved over to sit on a rock. Everyone else took similar position to wait for the limo. Ranma glanced to Ryouga and then to the sky as a fork of lightning flashed down from it striking down somewhere and a rumble of thunder followed. It looked like a storm was coming and a bad one too.

He walked slowly from around the opposite side of the trees and smirks to himself. He gave a slight tug on the leash he held and she followed him. They walked along the rest of the short distance and stopped before her grave. He smirked to himself and turned to look at his daughter. She stood glaring at him with utter hatred dressed in the same dark blue kimono as before, the leash around her neck. He stepped forward and unhooked the leash from around her neck and tossed it aside. He lowered a hand to his side and looked her in the eyes.

"Now my dear Mimoko I'm afraid your time on this earth is over. Have a nice death." the man says as a small purple colored chi sphere formed just above the palm of his hand. He suddenly moved quickly and pressed the chi sphere right through her forehead and into her mind itself. Mimoko screamed in pain and her whole body tensed for a few moments and then she relaxed. He pulled his hand back and caught her limp, but breathing, body and moved it slowly lowering it to lie over the grave. He knelt down beside her and reached into his kimono pulling out a rather large tube. He unscrewed the end and dumped the contents onto Mimoko.

The cold water splashes onto Mimoko's face and then she changes. Her body grows lightly in size and shape. Her face changed, and grew slightly more angular and her hair shortened and lightened to a bluish-black. Lying there now was Akane, or someone who looked just like her. He smirked to himself and closed his eyes. He placed his hands just above her, one over her chest and the other over her abdomen. His aura slowly formed around him and grew brighter steadily. He concentrated hard and began to chant arcane words. His aura flared a few times and a second aura slowly formed around the body.

He continued to chant, raising his voice slowly as the wind began to pick up around them. The wind blew around them whipping their clothes about as he chanted the words over and over. The auras flared brightly as the wind began to form a small cyclone around the two. Suddenly a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and slammed into their auras causing a sparks to fly everywhere from the two. He slowly stopped chanting, the winds died down, their auras faded. He opened his eyes and removed his hand from their positions.

He paused a moment and then lightly shook the body. It stirred and moaned a bit slowly waking up. It blinked its eyes open and looked around and at the man. There was a definite intelligence there now.

"Miss Tendo?" the man asked calmly. The young girl blinked and moved away a bit backing up and swallowed.

"Who....who are you? Where are Ranma…and Ryouga?" Akane said and looked around seeing where she was. She looked to her clothes and then to the man again. The man smirked to himself hearing her words but was smiling friendly when she looked back to him. He lightly held his hand out to her.

"I am Kaseru. Shodoro Kaseru. I'll take you to Ranma and Ryouga....but first. We have to talk. A lot has happened since you died."

End of Part Four