Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ranma stuff.

Chapter 15

Ranma vaguely remembered Ryoga entering into his room that night along side his mother. But between the pain meds and anti-inflammatory drugs he was not all that lucid and quickly fell back asleep. It was an incredibly weird dream he was having that morning, seated at a large table with food stacked high around him, the best food he'd ever tasted. But as he reached for a plate of bacon, it oinked at him as each piece got a yellow and black bandanna and hopped away. A roasted duck suddenly took on Soun's head and quacked before flying away. When he looked down in his lap, a lavender cat was there purring.

"CAAAT!" Ranma shouted, sitting up quickly as he scanned his lap and then the room for any sign of a cat.

What he found instead was Nodoka and Ryoga staring at him in shock. His mother quickly made her way over to him while he grunted in pain at the sudden movement, his arm was feeling better but his chest was still fully wrapped and they expected it to stay that way for a few more days while they let the antibiotics work.

"Nightmare?" Nodoka asked with concern, taking one of his hands in hers and giving a little squeeze.

"It started out good...went weird though...then a...a...thing, appeared." Ranma explained, wincing as he slowly leaned back in the bed.

Nodoka nodded in understanding. "It's around breakfast time, would you like me to have them send something over?" She asks.

His stomach decided to voice its opinion on the matter quite loudly before he could answer, to which his mother simply smirked and headed over to the phone on the wall to make the call.

Looking over at Ryoga, who seemed to have found his stomach amusing also, he didn't see any bandages on him. "You get banged up or something man?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga's mirth quickly left him, as the boy quickly looked back down at the food in front of him on a tray. "No, I'm fine, demon's gone too." Ryoga replied with a bland monotone delivery.

Ranma knew something was bothering his friend, he should have been celebrating the fact they'd finally gotten rid of the damn thing. Instead it looked like Ryoga was worse off now than he had been when they found him.

"You ah...don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna." Ranma said, borrowing a line Dr. Suzuki seemed to say often enough to him.

Ryoga seemed to give a nod and then return to picking at his food. A nurse soon arrived with a meal for Ranma while he and his mom made small talk. She got up to leave, saying she'd check back in around noon when a doctor would be there to examine how his healing was going. Before she left she told something to Ryoga in a whisper while putting a hand on his shoulder, he returned a smile but it was obvious to everyone that it was strained.

After the food was finished, Ranma turned on the television, if only to get rid of the awkward silence. Flipping through channels until he landed on a Bruce Lee film that was about halfway done. While watching in silence at first, they started to riff a little bit on the sillier things some of the henchmen tried, eventually rooting for the hero as he took down the big bad and saved the love interest.

"I can't believe they couldn't find a single person that could hold those fake swords properly…" Ryoga remarked as the credits rolled.

"Swords nothing, did you see how the staffs were all wobbly, probably made of rubber or something." Ranma said with a laugh, then a grimace as he tried to not do that. "Though I think Sachiko never really cared for the bad, said he looked more silly than scary."

"You've seen this with Sachiko?" Ryoga asked, wondering why she would of watched such a dumb action movie.

"Yea...back in junior high, when she was tricking me into dates, she probably thought this was the only kind of movie I'd put up with." Ranma explained with some sheepishness.

"Hah, she really had your number." Ryoga replied chuckling.

"Hey, if she'd told any other girl about her plan, you'd probably be in the same predicament as me." Ranma said before sticking his tongue out at him and blowing a raspberry.

"What!? No way any girls would of done that." Ryoga says dismissively.

"Hah, you remember all the girls outside the gate of the school?" Ranma asks with a smirk on his face.

"Yea, kinda." Ryoga replies cautiously, wondering where Ranma was going with this.

"Yea, Sachiko explained, they were out there for us, like with banners with out names on them and everything. We were just too busy fighting or getting you home to notice…" Ranma said smiling at his friend who's jaw had fallen wide open.

"You're joking, girls don't have any interest in me." Ryoga said dismissively.

"She said they were making all sort of manga's about us, some fujoshi stuff too what ever that means." Ranma said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Ask her if you don't believe me."

"I will, no way we could of both been that dumb." Ryoga said confidently.

They continued to talk for a while about their travels for a while until Sachiko showed up with Mirei and a bag of activities.

"Daddy!" Mirei cried out happily as she ran over and climbed up on his bad to sit between his legs. "Can you be magical now?" She asked him with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Sorry squirt, still going to be a few days before its safe." Ranma replied, pointing at his bandages.

Barely staying on the bed long enough to give him a frown, she raced over to Ryoga's bed. "Oink Oink!" She said, before falling into a fit of laughter.

"Mirei, what have we said about making sounds at people.." Sachiko said with exasperation. Walking over towards Ranma and placing the activity bag at his feet. "Sorry Ryoga, she's been doing that to everyone that's gotten a curse, if she's not trying to get them with cold water. I brought her down here to spend time with Ranma, and because after yesterday's incident no one is that interested in baby sitting. I need to head to the school and pick up assignments, Mom said she'd take her off your hands when she comes to visit at lunch time. Activities are in the bag, No TV!" Sachiko says quickly, practically out the door by the end of it.

"Wait, Sachiko!" Ryoga calls out before the door shuts.

"Yea?" Sachiko replies, just holding the door open enough to see through it to Ryoga.

"Ranma said the girls at the junior high had banners with both our names, he's pulling my chain right?" Ryoga asks her.

"Nope, you two were equally popular, I almost got in a fight with a friend cause she wanted me to tell her what I was doing so she could go after you. Anyway, I need to go or I'll miss the bus." She says, quickly closing the door and hurrying down the hallway.

Ranma was laughing and crying, while trying to do neither after looking at Ryoga's completely red face. Mirei looked at her father with confusion before becoming annoyed.

"What's funny?" Mirei asked Ranma.

Unfortunately, Ranma wasn't able to answer her as he kept losing it every time he saw Ryoga's face as the other young man tried to reconcile the facts oh being as clueless and popular as Ranma. That of course led to him thinking about the Akane and Lotion incident and he was grateful he still had the covers up around his waist. After finally putting his pillow over his face, Ranma managed to calm himself down enough to answer his daughter.

"Ryoga was just finding out he was just as silly as me back when we were younger." Ranma explained to her, a large grin on his face still.

Mirei for her part just rolled her eyes. "All boys are silly." She intoned in exactly Akane's style.

"Uh huh…" Ranma replied, not feeling he could really argue that point instead looked down at his legs. "So, what would you like to do for a while?" He asked her.

"TV!" Mirei demanded.

"Mommy said no TV, something about an incident yesterday?" Ranma replied, raising an eyebrow at the word incident. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Mirei looked away and grumbled. "I don't like cold water…" she answered.

"Well, Ryoga and I aren't fans of it either…" Ranma replied. "But that doesn't answer my question."

Mirei didn't seem to want to give any more details though and instead switched tactics. "Ryoga, do you want to watch TV?" She said, reaching up and holding his wrist from the side of his bed, giving her best puppy dog eyes and too cute to say no too look.

Ranma snorted at the obvious tactic the girl was trying, but quickly he had to shake his head vigorously at Ryoga who looked on the verge of agreeing. "Oh. uh...sorry, Ranma said no TV." Ryoga replied to Mirei.

"Are you afraid of daddy?" Mirei asked not so innocently.

"Hah! No way I'm afraid of Ranma." Ryoga laughed as he grinned at Ranma. Ranma though was mouthing something at him silently though and it took him a few seconds to figure it out.

"Uh...you're mother though, I don't want to make her mad…" Ryoga told Mirei, seeing Ranma give a thumbs up across the room.

Mirei, upset she wasn't going to get any TV stomped her foot before quickly letting go of Ryoga's wrist and then stomped her way over to Ranma's bed to get the bag.

Ryoga mouthed the word "scary" to Ranma on seeing the girls quick change of disposition to which Ranma simply nodded.

# # #

"Things are looking as expected, though I have to ask Mrs. Saotome, why hasn't Ranma changed to his female side, you mentioned he had the powers while in it, a wound like this would probably be well on its way to healed if so." The doctor asked after finishing his examination. The goldfish looks he got in return from Ranma and his mother seemed to point to them never even thinking about it.

"How about I get a nurse to come rewrap his bandages after he changes…" The Doctor offered as he made his way towards the door.

"Yes, please do." Nodoka finally answered without turning around to see him off.

"Ugh...you mean I heal faster as a girl?" Ranma said with contempt.

"From demonic wounds, yes. I hadn't even thought about that, I was so busy making sure everyone else was okay I didn't even tell the medics about your condition." Nodoka apologized.

"Fine, lets get this over with then." Ranma said as he up ended a glass of water on himself.

"Auuughhhh!" Ranma screamed in a high falsetto. "Note to self, don't change when wounded...it just felt like my skin was on fire and doing yoga over every little piece." He said out loud. He was laying back, his whole body stiff as he tried not to move anything.

Nodoka though sat amazed as she watched not only the large burn wound shift and shrink onto the smaller body of her son's female form as the loose bandages fell away, but as it also seemed to begin healing right in front of her. The outside edges fading from their white and pink edges to the natural light brown skin. The large splotches of scabs starting to dry and flake off, the skin underneath slowly mending. Ranma, following his mothers gaze as she sat there in stunned silence watched also, touching some of the newly healed areas in amazement. In less than five minutes, his chest was barely showing any signs of the burn itself, only the most direct contact locations still being slightly pink and sensitive.

"Mom...what the hell was that…" Ranma asked slightly worried.

"I'm...I'm not quite sure. Normally we just heal slightly faster, and are more resilient. That...that was something completely unknown." Nodoka replied.

After retrieving the doctor for a new examination and finding nothing wrong to his amazement, Ranma shifted back to male just to make sure everything was all right. Soon afterwards he was discharged and headed back to the room he was sharing with Ryoga to tell him the good news. His mother having said she needed to talk to someone and heading out on her own.

# # #

"Ranma...I'm pretty sure this isn't setting a great example." Ryoga said, watching his friend eat at a somewhat normal pace, but with three trays from the cafeteria stacked over a foot high. Mirei was seated next to him staring in amazement as she worked on her third pudding, which she'd taken from Ranma's stack.

"Huh? But I'm hungry?" Ranma replied between bites of steak, which he was just biting off the steak as he held it between chopsticks. His other hand's chopsticks grabbing rice and other things to shove into his mouth.

Ryoga rolled his eyes before looking over towards Mirei to see how the young girl was taking the insane feeding frenzy that was her father at a free buffet. The girl was mesmerized by her fathers antics, which wasn't helping her ability to get large spoonfuls of pudding successfully into her mouth and he was sure her clothes were ruined too as he watched half a spoonful simply fall on her shirt and roll down it.

"You're gonna need to cleanup Mirei too it seems." Ryoga said with a nod towards the girl.

"Huh?" Ranma replied as he looked over only to see the girl smiling back as she attempted to get a fourth pudding from him. "Mirei!?" how did you...wait, we said you could have two…" Ranma began, shocked at her state of dirtiness as well as counting three empty pudding containers while she was busy trying to open the fourth, which he quickly yoinked out of her grasp.

"Young lady you need a bath, and some new clothes." Ranma said sternly to her, to which she responded with a Hiss and a swipe of her fingers as if they were claws.

Ryoga nearly choked on his rice as he watched Ranma leap nearly ten feet back from where he was seated, over another table entirely. The look he gave his daughter once he regained his composure was enough that she quickly ducked under the table and ended up using Ryoga as a barrier.

"Mirei...That was very very mean thing to do…" Ryoga said a bit nervously as he watched Ranma stalk back over to his seat, his eyes never leaving where he knew Mirei to be through Ryoga.

"Mirei, we're going to have a talk tonight, with momma and grandma." He said simply before returning to finishing the food, his eyes never leaving where she was hiding, leading to Ryoga feeling uneasier and uneasier.

# # #

"NOOOO!" Mirei yelled at her father loudly. Ryoga, on the other side of the door to the room the Saotome's had been assigned began to laugh to himself at the current argument going on behind it.

"Mirei, it's all that's here, and you can't wear those clothes you made a mess of, and ya ain't walking around naked. Now stand up and put on the dress." Ranma's annoyed voice coming through clearly.

"No Dress! I want star pants!" Mirei shouted once again, a banging on the ground following it.

"We don't have the star pants, their back at home. This dress has stars, isn't that good?" Ranma said, trying to keep from out right screaming in frustration as the simple act of changing entered into its second quarter hour.

Ryoga, suddenly stopped laughing, as an idea in his head suddenly gave him a smirk, a down right evil smirk. Knocking on the door he called out to Ranma. "I have an idea." he said innocently.

"I'm all ears!" Ranma shouted back through the doorway.

Ryoga's smile got even wider. "Mirei, how about you wear the dress, and Magical Daddy will wear one too!"

"YES!" Mirei shouted before he had barely finished the sentence. Springing up to go to the dresser with Sachiko's new clothes.

"WHAT!?" Ryoga heard behind him, already making a run for the stairwell, the door to the room slamming open. "You better run, It's going to be bacon for dinner!" Ranma shouted down the hallway.

Looking back into the room, Mirei was already digging through the clothing in what was probably Sachiko's dresser, which he already knew was going to get him in trouble. "Mirei, Ryoga was just joking…" He said, hoping to convince her to drop this idea. The look he got back from her, was serious and told him he had no chance of changing her mind less they give up on going out at all. "Fine, but nothing too frilly, and you get dressed first while I find something, you're making a mess." As he moved to stop her from just picking up and dumping things on the ground.

# # #

Twenty minutes later Ryoga watched as Mirei pushed open the door to the dormitory, now wearing a simple yellow dress with white lace trim, a mismatched pair of white and pink socks and her regular pink tennis shoes. She was practically beaming as she held the door open for Ranma who first looked around the corner with just his now very red haired head poking out. Seeing Ryoga she gave him a murderous look as she stalked out of the building in a white sundress that faded to a light pink at the bottom, white ankle socks and his regluar pair of black slippers.

"You…" Ranma said menacingly as she made her way towards Ryoga who seemed to have no worries about his soon to be untimely death.

"Mirei, isn't your father pretty?" He said right as she got within range to deck him, making Ranma stop and look back at the little girl that was right behind her and nodding in agreement. Not wanting to set a bad example by turning his friend into a bloodly pile in front of her, Ranma settled for giving Ryoga a glare that promised this wasn't over.

"Let's just get Shirokuro and her puppies, with everyone out I doubt they've been walked yet." Ranma said calmly as Mirei took his hand. "There's a park on the way so you can get some energy out before everyone's back for dinner Mirei."

It took a few minutes to find someone that knew where the dogs had been moved too, but soon enough they were on their way with Ryoga holding the leash to Shirokuro, and the puppies were with Ranma while Mirei held onto the leashes too as she wanted to help also. The group got a few odd looks from people as they went by, none of which Ranma or Ryoga seemed to notice as Ranma told Ryoga an edited account of the battle with the demon and the various moves he'd tried to use before Shampoo had turned into a cat and he'd blacked out.

Ranma was thankful that the small park's playground was empty, as school was still in session for the day, so they had the run of the place. Ryoga took the dogs to do a few more laps around the area while Ranma entertained Mirei. After a half hour Ryoga returned and took a seat on a bench and watched the two of them play.

"No Fair, No Flying!" Mirei yelled at Ranma as he leapt away once more during their game of tag.

"I'm not flying, I'm just jumping REALLY far." Ranma said with a smirk.

"Ranma, you should probably not do that in a dress…" Ryoga called out, a blush on his face as he looked at the ground.

Ranma cursed silently to himself when he realized what had happened. But then quickly waved Mirei over and whispered into her ear.

"Pervert!" Mirei shouted at Ryoga after running over to him, giving him a glare.

Ryoga, taken aback by the sudden accusation looked at Ranma who simply simply pulled her eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at him. 'Two can play at this game.' Ryoga thought as he got an idea.

"Mirei, that's not very nice, I was simply trying to remind your daddy to set a good example, can you tell him…" He whispered into her ear.

"Unrefined!" Mirei shouted while pointing a finger at Ranma after she ran back to him.

"What!" Ranma said taken aback by how his daughter managed to channel his own mother when saying that. "I'm gonna unrefined you Ryoga!" Ranma yelled as he began to clamber through the play structure.

"Gotta catch me first, but don't forget your daughter!" Ryoga said with a laugh as he got up and started jogging with the puppies back towards the estate.

Ranma grumbled as he went back and scooped up Mirei onto his shoulders and held back his speed just enough that she wouldn't complaine about it being too slow. The last time he'd gone fast enough to really please his daughter, she'd immediately informed his mother and Sachiko about how fun it was to go fast and gotten him yet another lecture. By the time they arrived back at the front gate it seemed school had finished because Sachiko, Akane, and Nabiki were all there staring at the group as they made their way too them.

Ryoga didn't slow down though, just waving with a smile as he entered through the gate that was opened by the girls. Ranma was right behind him, only stopping briefly to transfer Mirei to Sachiko. "Glad your back, she's in trouble, tell ya later." Ranma said quickly before continuing the chase. "Get back here bacon breath!" He yelled as he sped up after his target.

The three girls looked down at Mirei, their eyes wide as dinner plates after what they just witnessed.

"Mirei...what...what's going on? Why is Ranma in a dress?" Sachiko asks her, then even more confused seeing how Mirei was in a dress also for once. "How are you wearing a dress?"

"If daddy wears one, I wear one!" Mirei answered happily.

"Your Auntie's are going to looooove that…" Nabiki says as she breaks out giggling. The war of getting Mirei into dresses having been a long and hard fought battle between the women.

"And why is Ranma chasing Ryoga?" Akane asks.

"Well, daddy was cheating, and then Ryoga said no jumping, then daddy said to call Ryoga per...per..perky, but then Ryoga said call daddy un...un...unremind, then we chase." Mirei explained with more hand motions than needed for a hummingbird to take flight.

The three girls looked back at each other with confused faces, eventually just giving up on understanding what's going on and heading into the estate to change and get ready for dinner.

# # #

'Finally...I'm never wearing another stupid dress as long as I live' Ranma thought as he slid into the large men's bath in the dormitory. 'At least Mirei got her just deserts for the cat scare, Aunt Saki might never let her go now' He smiled to himself, remembering the helpless look on Mirei's face as she was picked up and held tightly by her great-aunt who was babbling about how cute she was in a dress and how many more she had for the little girl to try on. He dunked his head under the water to cover up his laughing at the memory of dinner.

It was only just now that he'd been allowed to change back, as there wasn't anything for Mirei to change into until bed time and Sachiko had forced the issue on he either stayed in the dress or stayed in the room with his daughter, with no dinner. By the time the three had made it down to dinner Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi were falling out of their chairs laughing as Ryoga told them about what happened.

[FLASHBACK]

"Ryoga if you tell anyone else about this I'm going to let the elder know you're lonely and looking for a strong woman to settle down with." Ranma said with straight face.

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders. "With your luck, they'd just end up chasing you anyway."

Ranma could only groan as the rest of the group chuckled at the rebuttal.

"Do you want to tell me why our daughter is in trouble now?" Sachiko asked as she looked at Mirei who was sandwiched between Akane and her. Mirei had the mindfulness to at least look away from her mother and father.

"Well, besides still making animal sounds at Ryoga, she's found it funny to make c...ca...caa...those thing's...sounds at me." Ranma said while giving his daughter a serious look.

As if on cue, Mirei turned to her mother, put her arms up together across her chest while letting the wrist and hands hang slack like little paws, and with her cutest look, meowed loudly. Sachiko had to fight her initial instinct of how stinking cute it was, while everyone watched Ranma back flip ten feet into the air away from the table, leaving the table blushing at the sight.

"Ranma! Don't do that in a dress!" Akane shouted.

"Argh, I hate this thing." Ranma shouted back to the table as he stomped back to the table to take his seat.

"Mroowww"

Ranma once again leapt back, this time trying to hold the dress down at least and not flipping.

"Nabiki!" Kasumi said in a disapproving tone, before falling into a fit of laughter.

"Oh this is not going to get old…" Nabiki said before following after her sister and laughing.

"Nabiki Tendo." The words spoken flatly, as if just being read off in a list of a thousand names. The effect though sobered up the two older girls and drew the attention of everyone to the origin.

Nodoka and Kofumi were now standing next to the table, Kofumi's face was expressionless, while Nodoka was obviously not too happy with what was going on.

"Yes, Auntie…" Nabiki replied extra politely.

"It's one thing to set a good example for Mirei, but to let her be a bad example to yourself, makes me wonder about letting you live in the dorms next year like your sister has wished to, before her...incident." Nodoka said while giving the girl a frown.

Kasumi looked down at the table with an angry scowl but said nothing. Nabiki cringed at the thought of being stuck at home her first year of college, not to mention the commute could be awful if she got into her first pick. "Sorry! It won't happen again!" Nabiki said, standing and bowing, waiting for a response.

"Good, let's make sure it doesn't." Nodoka replies after a few lingering seconds, allowing Nabiki to sit back down and examine her food in depth.

"Mirei." Nodoka says to the girl to get her attention, forcing Sachiko to grab the girl by the waist before she could make a run for it.

"What rule have you been breaking?" Nodoka asked sternyl, not changing up her tone at all after Nabiki.

"nottomakeanimalsounds" Mirei mumbled while looking at her hands that were nervously playing in her lap.

"Mirei, you need to speak up and look at me when we're talking." Nodoka instructed her.

Mirei struggled to lift up her head, but did make eye contact, hers already starting to tear up. "Don't make animal sounds at people…" She repeated, before looking back to her hands.

"Good, No television time tomorrow." Nodoka told the girl, who nodded and rubbed her eyes.

"Ryoga" Nodoka turned her attention too, causing the boy to practically fall out of his seat from the intensity, confused suddenly as the tried to think why he might be in trouble too.

"You're going to need to come with us, we have...much to discuss." Nodoka said, her voice cracking some, losing its intensity.

"Uhm sure…" He said standing up. "I'll uh, see you all later." He waved to the group before following the two women out of the building.

"Must be about his mom and dad, have you heard anything Ranma?" Akane asked him.

"No, we've pretty much been with Mirei all day once we learned my girl body heals the demon wounds super fast." Ranma said, finally back to enjoying the meal.

"Oh, that's why your up. I thought you'd still be in bed after seeing you this morning when dropping off Mirei." Sachiko said, gently brushing Mirei's hair with her hand as the little girl held her face into her side.

"Yea, just wish I knew how to do more with what ever these powers are, probably would of made a difference." Ranma said, his face suddenly tensing up before falling slack and his tone dropping lower.

'Crap...need to say something, something that doesn't give away I know…" Sachiko thought, seeing Ranma's mood seem to sink. "Ranma...you...you should...uh…" She stumbles out, suddenly making her more self conscious as the table looks at her, waiting to see what she says. "You should be happy you saved us all! Thank you!" She finally blurts out, cheeks going red from embarrassment.

She see's Akane about to rebuke the "being saved" and quickly foot into the girls shin under the table. Akane gives her an upset and questioning look to which Sachiko just does her best "Shut Up" glare.

Ranma was at a loss for words though, he wasn't sure when the last time he'd been thanked was, maybe with Daisuke had gotten himself almost killed by Shampoo? Looking at Kasumi who was across from him, she gave him a smile and a nod. "She's right, we'd be demon kibble if not for you and the others." Nabiki said with a nod aswell. Akane, looking back at Ranma after getting the hint from Sachiko gave him a nod also, a little begrudgingly.

Ranma felt weird, his heart was beating faster than it should, his breathing felt strange and he couldn't seem to find his center after he returned his gaze to Sachiko who seemed to looking back, but just giving him an awkward smile as she seemed to then turn and continue to brush Mirei's hair.

"Uhm...thanks, I'm...gonna go take...my bath." Ranma said, feeling awkward as he stood up and headed for the exit.

"OhMyGoodnessMireiYou'reSoCute!" Ranma heard screamed from across the cafeteria as he reached the door. Looking back he saw Aunt Saki nearly teleport and pickup the girl.

"Who'sAPrettyGirl!Who'sWearingAPrettyDress!" Saki squealed out to the discomfort of everyone's ears.

"Mommmmm….mmmmaaaaa…" Mirei as she was crushed in her great aunt's embrace, causing Sachiko to begin chiding Saki for holding her too tightly.

Ranma smirked as he quickly left before his aunt might spot him in this stupid getup and headed for the dorm.

[FLASHBACK END]

'Mom sure was scary though, I hope Ryoga's okay.' Ranma thought while absently blowing bubbles as he was submerged almost up to his eyes. 'Mirei too, she really doesn't like being in trouble.' He thought absently, remembering his daughter hiding herself in Sachiko's side. 'I'll read her a story tonight when I go to talk to mom about what the plan is, probably school tomorrow but I don't even have my uniform or supplies, maybe she expects me to get up early and head home first.'

After a few more minutes of soaking and thinking about the next day, Ranma rose from the bath and headed to the changing area to dry off and get dressed. Looking at the clock it was a little past seven so he wasn't in a rush. As he approached the room to knock on the door, he heard his name called from down the hall.

"Ranma!" His mother shouted from the stairwell entrance. A worried look on her face.

Walking back towards her quickly, he's soon at the door. "I was about to check on Mirei before bed. What's up mom?" He asks.

"Ryoga…" She begins to say, before halting, her face scrunching up as she tries to think of what to say. "Ryoga is going to need someone to talk to. His mom didn't take things well, and he needs a friend. Now." She finally says, a tear running down her face.

Seeing his mother's tear, Ranma's felt a wave of discomfort wash through him as he listened. "Okay mom, sure, where is he?" He answered, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Up on the roof of the administration building, he ran out and jumped up there after we told him about the situation." Nodoka answers worriedly as she looks in the direction of the building.

"Alright, I'll go see how he's doing. Let me throw on some clothes." Ranma says as he heads into the room.

# # #

It took Ranma two leaps to get to the top of the admin building, its traditional style roof with various guardian statues carved into the end of the large support beams gleaming as the street lights that were beginning to turn on. It wasn't hard to find Ryoga, his aura was flaring a dark green as the boy sat lotus style at the center point of the roof where the beems intersected. Ranma slowly began to approach, unsure what to make of things as Ryoga's face was almost emotionless as it seemed he was trying to meditate, though his eyes were tightly shut and tears were streaming down.

Stopping about ten feet away, Ranma called out to his friend. "Ryoga…" he said gently, as if he was trying to console Mirei.

Ryoga didn't respond beyond a small flare up of his aura. Ranma, not wanting to get too close, decided to simply take up a similar meditation stance on the roof and wait for his friend. It was almost another ten minutes before Ryoga spoke, his aura having fluctuated larger and smaller before finally shrinking to about half of what it was.

"She doesn't want me…" Ryoga said, barely above a whisper, causing Ranma's eyes to widen, but he held his initial desire to asks more.

"She already left to go back to her parents...she can't look at me, not without seeing...his face." Ryoga continued, his fist clenching and his aura flaring back up a blood red as he mentioned his father, his stare far off into the night sky. "My father blames everyone else, that it was the only way to get what he deserved. He wants me...wants me to get him out, do what he says, be grateful to have him." Ryoga spits angrily at the end, his aura seems to lose its chaos, almost folding back on itself as it turns into an almost opaque black that Ranma can barely make out Ryoga inside of it. Ryoga's still not looking at him though, and he feels its still not yet the right time to say anything.

Ranma watches Ryoga's aura as they sit there, it was like nothing he'd ever seen before as it seemed to drape itself over Ryoga like cloth instead of push away from. It was slowly moving, sometimes a ripple along the surface, other times in swirls, tinges of red and green barely shinning through before being enveloped once again in the darkness.

"I didn't have words to say to him, I just walked away, and I'm glad I'll never see him again, he's being put somewhere deep I'm told by your mom." Ryoga spoke, finally looking up at Ranma.

Ranma nearly panicked when their eyes met, the inky blackness flowing around Ryoga reminding him too much of his dreams of the cat stalking him in the black pit. Gripping his own knees tightly he kept the gaze, wanting his friend to know he was there and listening.

While they held the eye contact though, Ryoga's aura started to lose its smoothness, edges started to develop at first. Those edges then seemed to bulge, then crack, and as more and more seams began to connect, the pieces began to titter until all of a sudden the whole aura burst apart like an egg shell rupturing. Ryoga found himself gasping for air, drinking in large gulps as he bent forward, only to begin throwing up a few seconds later.

Ranma rushed to his side and sat next to him. "It's okay Ryoga, just breath, we'll..." He said, stumbling on what all he could even do for his friend.

Ryoga finally getting control of himself, and shifts himself away from the bile before looking back at Ranma. "I thought with the demon gone, my luck would change things would get better, but I was just a fool. I've got no home cause they gotta just demo our old place, with everything inside, my dad's a villain and my mom's one of his victims that I can't even be angry at for abandoning me. What's even the point anymore Ranma, why even get out of bed if everything just keeps getting worse!" Ryoga yells at Ranma in desperation.

"You got friends now Ryoga, we both do. My mom's not gonna let you just go and be homeless and stuff, heck watch out or she might try and adopt you too, then you're stuck with me forever." Ranma said, taking a step closer to his friend and giving him a cocky grin.

Ryoga's frustration drops, overwhelmed by the thought of that. "Oh kami-sama, anything but that." He says melodramatically.

"At least you'd get Sachiko as a sister, and she could properly help you learn to not turn into a puddle around other girls." Ranma said, continuing to move closer until their within arms lengths.

"What! That...That's not true at all!" Ryoga shouts back, suddenly self conscious about if he had really been doing that or not.

"Well she says somethings up with you when you're around Akane and Lotion, all three of you act all embarrassed." Ranma says teasingly, seeing he's gotten Ryoga flustered.

"That has nothing to do with...with...that kind of stuff!" Ryoga says defensively, waving his hands back and forth in front of his face.

"Sachiko and I saw them looking back a few times too and blushing, maybe you're more popular than you think." Ranma says, starting to laugh as Ryoga's ears begin to steam.

Ryoga was currently suffering from a complete brain overload at the idea of Akane and Lotion having any interest in him after the...incident. Pictures of them walking to school together, eating ice cream, both holding him during a scary movie float through his head. Ranma watches as Ryoga seems to be stuck like Daisuke would be at times when Shampoo was taking care of him, completely lost in some fantasy. 'Dang...maybe he really does have a thing for them…' Ranma thought as he waiting for his friend to come back to his senses.

A few seconds later Ryoga's vision clears and he see's Ranma standing there looking at him with his smug grin. Cough Cough "Anyway, that doesn't really help me much, what am I suppose to do now?" Ryoga asked Ranma, hoping to drop the topic of girls.

"Dunno, go to school like the rest of us?" Ranma said shrugging.

"I can't, you know I'd just get lost." Ryoga replied like it was the dumbest thing he'd heard.

"Like you got lost this afternoon?" Ranma asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, I had Shirokuro during the walk." Ryoga responded with annoyance.

"Even when you played your little dress prank on me? You made it all the way outside and waited for us." Ranma reminding him.

Ryoga froze as he replayed the events in his head, he could remember, every hallway, door, turns down the stairwell, all of it. Looking back at Ranma for a brief second, he then launched himself off the roof and down to the ground and began running to the dormitory.

"What's that idiot doing now…" Ranma grumbled to himself as he quickly followed after him.

"Ranma...look! I found it!" Ryoga shouted back as he made his way into the dormitory.

'Yea...it was just like...across the street…' Ranma thought as he raced to catch up.

"Look, this is our room!" Ryoga said, throwing the door open and smiling as Ranma followed him down the hallway. Ranma just shaking his head at his manic friends rediculousness.

"This is the men's restroom!" Again throwing the door open to prove it to himself.

"Oh, and here's the Tendo's!"

"Ryoga WAIT!" Ranma cried out as he realized what was going to happen next and tried to tackle his friend.

Unfortunately, Ryoga's manic brain wasn't working quite right and Ranma's words wouldn't be processed until he'd already thrown the door wide open revealing the three sisters in the middle of getting changed for bed. Ranma of course only made things worse as his tackle brought himself into the line of fire that was the three sisters death glares. Ryoga hadn't even hit the ground before he was already out like a light, the sight of the girls overloading his brain and the bloodloss from the nosebleed dropping his blood pressure instantly. Ranma decided to use one of his father's tried and true techniques, and leave Ryoga behind so he might escape, though as he did so he had one lingering thought 'Was Nabiki wearing page 12?'

Author's Note: This ends my initial Ryoga arc and all the chapters I had written before I started to post the story. Next up I plan to bring Ukyo in as well as deal with a few other canon baddies and get some training in during the requisite beach episode. I'll be writing it all up first, before doing clean up and posting a large amount, so please have patience.

Thank you to everyone who's been supportive of this work, it's been great fun and I can't wait to dive into the next part.