Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, nor claim to.

Chapter Nine: The Past Relived:

"Sometimes, I need to remember just to breath; sometimes, I need you to stay away from me! Sometimes, I'm in disbelief, I don't know; somehow, I need you to go!" Linkin' Park: Don't Stay

"Ranma! What are you doing?!" Akane shouted, looking out into the hallway, as her husband left.

"I've had enough of ya, pig! We had a deal, remember?!" Ranma shouted, staring directly at P-chan, who was being carried towards the bath.

The pig nodded its head rapidly, before struggling to break free. The bandanna Ranma was holding came loose, and the pig freefalled to the ground. Freedom was slowly rising to meet him.

Ranma tossed the loose yellow bandanna aside, before flinging his hand back down, snatching the pig again. The next bandanna came loose, and Ranma tossed that one aside as well, trying to grab the pig again. After several more tries, Ranma reached around, grabbing the pig by its body, and carried him off.

Akane stopped, standing in the middle of the hall. Slowly, the twenty or so yellow bandannas floated to the ground, before gently settling on the floorboards. She slowly walked forward, approaching the yellow and black spotted cloths. Gently, she lowered herself down, crouching to reach one.

She took it up slowly, holding it near her face to see it better. It didn't take long to recognize it. She slumped down onto her knees, sitting in the middle of the floor. Something terrible entered her mind, and she instantly wished that had never entered her head. Then, Akane heard the voices.

"Ranma! What the hell are you doing?! We had a deal!"

"It's over! Part of it was you don't come back as a pig! Didja' forget that?!"

"Listen, I had an excuse for . . ."

"Some of them, maybe! But I've kept track. 347 times! 347 times you've come back since Akane and I were married! Hell, I was forgiving for the first 150 times already! But over three hundred?! How can you expect me ta' believe that it's an accident?!"

"Hard to believe, yes! But it's the truth!"

"Bullshit! I've had it with you!" There was a soft thump. "Put 'em on." Ranma commanded. There was the sound of moving water, followed by the rustling of cloth. "Outside. NOW!"

When Akane heard the footsteps, she glanced up, her face white with fear. She didn't want to believe what she had heard. That voice couldn't be whom she thought it was.

Ryoga was shoved out of the bath by Ranma, and paled immediately when he saw Akane sitting on the floor. Ranma paused too, unsure what to do. Quickly, he knew what to do, and it wasn't what he had planned. He shoved Ryoga forward. He was going to get off easy. Akane stayed sitting on the floor, now staring off into space.

Ranma swung the front door open, pushed him outside, and then spun him around. And bashed him in the face. Ryoga was tossed back several feet. "Ryoga!" He leaned forward off the ground. "If you ever come back here as P-chan and take advantage of Akane ever again, don't expect any forgiveness!" Ranma slammed the door, and went running back up to Akane.

"Akane!" She didn't move. Ranma ran up to her, squatting down next to her. "Akane!" Nothing. "Akane!"

"Akane!" Ryoga said loudly. Akane snapped out of her daydream, back to the present. "Thanks for bringing me to the bus stop." Ryoga continued, scratching the back of his head.

Akane nodded. "All right, Ryoga. I'll see you later." She immediately turned and walked back towards home.

Akane did her best to bury away the rest of the memories, but they wouldn't stay away.

She had been duped, and she had hated everyone for it. For the next whole month, she barely even left her room. Ranma, if she remembered correctly, after being beaten up by Soun, Genma, and even a bit by Nabiki, along with a severe (really severe) scolding by Kasumi, was tossed out of the house for most of that time too. Her husband gone, her friend now revealed as a traitor, Akane spent most of the time alone, but did her best to seem normal. After that first month, though, something inside her finally snapped. For the better. For the first time since finding out, she allowed herself to be her old self again.

She was pissed.

The next time she saw Ryoga, he was punted so far off, he likely landed back in China. Ranma spent most of the next two weeks alternating between running for his life, and recovering in Dr. Tofu's office. After another two weeks of yelling at him, Akane allowed Ranma one chance to explain things, saying every last thing that he did and didn't know. Any mistakes, and he'd be following Ryoga for a very long time.

And so, Ranma explained everything, from the very beginning, to the deal they made just a little while ago. Ryoga would not come back to the Dojo ever again as P-chan, except in absolute emergencies. And as long as he did, Ranma would never tell Akane about what had happened. This went on for a few months, both of them thinking that it would all work out, but it didn't. Ryoga kept coming around as P-chan, Ranma eventually couldn't take it anymore, and Akane found out the truth.

She sighed, walking slowly along the sidewalk. She really wanted to agree with what Ranma had said, that it was all Ryoga's fault, but something deep inside wouldn't let her believe that. Part of her truly believed he had come back as P-chan just to be with her.

But, she couldn't say it wasn't an accident; since Ryoga and Akari had gotten engaged a few weeks before, they had been coming to visit much more than normal. And Ryoga seemed to be getting lost more often than usual; he couldn't find his way out of the dojo for the whole day after Akari had accepted his proposal, and then he disappeared to Canada for a week. And P-chan had been acting very weird all the times before it. He had frozen in the halls whenever she had found him, and would run some of the times, while staying the other times, and even jumping back into her arms at still other times. It was all very confusing.

And as much as she hated to admit it, a very small voice, deeper inside than any other one, kept telling her it was her fault too. She should have noticed the signs better; the bandannas, the fact that they never appeared together, Ranma's comments, it was all right in front of her, and she ignored it.

None of it was helping. Every time she thought about it, things just got more jumbled than before, and it still stung no matter who was at fault. So what was she supposed to do?

"Hey, Akane!"

Akane glanced across the street, seeing a smiling face there. It was Akari, working her way through the food stands, picking out her groceries. Akane glanced along the street, and when the traffic cleared, dashed across. "Hello, Akari!"

She smiled, brushing a stray hair aside. "What are you doing here? It looked like you were thinking about something important."

Akane paused, her smile fading a tiny bit, before the answer swelled up inside her. "No, it wasn't that important. I was just walking Ryoga to the bus, so he could get home."

"Oh, drat. I wish I saw you walk by the first time. I could have used his help with the groceries."

"I'll help." Akane replied, smiling, and started walking along with her.

That was the answer. Simple, yet profound. It wasn't important anymore. Everything had happened almost two decades ago; that was too long to hold a grudge. It was time to let go of the pain. She had her family to watch over now, her friends to spend time with, her home to keep in order, her life to enjoy. It would be stupid to throw it all away because of one horrendous event. Her past was now further behind her; she had her future to watch over. That would be better than shaking her fist at the past.

- - -

"Come on, Sauske." Sakura said dryly, waiting for her brother at the gate. "Do you always take this long to leave?"

"Sakura, the bell just rang." He said back, as they began walking down the street towards home. "What's the rush today?"

"We're grounded, stupid! I do not want to get in trouble anymore, understand?!"

Sauske waved his hands around. "Hey, hey, calm down. I know, I know. Besides, I thought you were going to stay after anyway and go to Kendo tryouts."

Sakura placed her hand on the end of her sword hilt, keeping it balanced as they dashed across the street. "Let's just say our parents talked me out of it."

"Really? Mom and Dad talked you out of Kendo club tryouts?!"

"Well, that, and I talked with the people in charge, and they said I could have my own tryouts in two days. And since I really don't want to ask them for more time, let's get home on time."

Sauske adjusted the straps of his bag over his shoulders better, before turning to his sister and smiling. "Oh, don't worry, Sakura. There is nothing I can think of that could possibly make us . . ."

"SAOTOME!"

". . . late?" Sauske looked up ahead, noticing a certain spiky blond haired boy, dressed in bright orange clothes, standing in the middle of the sidewalk, his arms crossed, smiling smugly at them. It was Hibiki Naruto. "Okay, maybe one thing."

"How fast do you think you can beat him?" Sakura whispered to her brother.

"Between thirty seconds and two minutes, probably." He said back.

"Too long!" Sakura shouted, before turning to her brother. "Well, sorry to leave you all by yourself, but I got to get home! You two can just work this out on your own!" She turned back to the sidewalk, and went sprinting past Naruto.

"Hey, Sakura, wait up!" Sauske shouted, dashing past Naruto, and after his sister. "Just because I don't have a reason to avoid being grounded more, doesn't mean I want to be!" he hopped up onto the fence, sprinting as fast as he could, trying to catch up.

"DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY, SAUSKE!" Naruto shouted, noticing everyone was running away, and began running after the Saotomes.

Sauske began running faster, looking back over his shoulder. "Now is really not a good time, Naruto! Can't this wait until tomorrow?!"

"NEVER! I said I would beat you, and I'm going to! No matter how long it takes!"

Sakura dashed between people, as the crowd thickened. Her mind began focusing, and suddenly, a blue aura burst around her, as her pace doubled. Sauske was faster than she was normally, and on the fence, he didn't need to dodge between people. This would even things up. As well as making sure he would stop shouting for her to stop.

Sauske gave up shouting. There was no way his sister would hear her now. He could only run from Naruto, and keep up with Sakura.

Sakura let her aura go, and the huge field of blue color trailed off like a released cape, flowing apart in the breeze. She skidded to a stop at the front door, noticing a large sheet tacked to the frame. After a moment, Sauske slid up behind her, and noticed the note. She took it off the wall, sliding the door open, and reading it.

Sauske and Sakura,

Something's come up, and I had to go out for a little while. Your father is visiting Shampoo and Mousse; if something comes up, the number is by the phone.

I don't know when I'll be back, so one of you needs to start dinner for me. The recipe is on the counter by the sink, and everything you'll need is there too.

Thanks, and be home soon,

Mom

"TAKE THIS, SAUSKE!" Naruto shouted, jumping towards hit target, before swinging his foot out to kick him. Sauske sidestepped, and Naruto went careening through the doorway, and rolling along the floor.

Sauske stepped back to where he was before, finishing reading the note. Sakura folded it up, sighing. "Great. We ran all the way home, and they aren't even here." She looked to her brother. "I'll take care of the cooking, and you can take care of . . ."

"Don't think I've given up! TRY THIS!" Naruto shouted, jumping back at Sauske, punching forward. Sauske ducked, and the blond boy floated right over, careening into the ground behind them.

Sakura finished her train of thought. ". . . our little pest problem. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Sauske replied back, and walked back into the yard, as Sakura disappeared inside, closing the door behind her. "Come on, Naruto. I'll fight you in the dojo."

"Well, . . . FINE THEN!" he shouted, jumping up.

"And stop shouting so much." Sauske continued, rubbing his ears.

- - -

Naruto stood at one end of the dojo, while Sauske stood at the other, still wearing his school uniform of a white shirt and black pants, and his school bag resting limply on his shoulders. "All right, Naruto, lets get this over with."

"My thoughts exactly!" he shouted back, his fists clenched.

There was a long pause. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Sauske asked, staring his opponent down.

Naruto mentally kicked himself. He wasn't afraid of Sauske! He could win! "All right! Let's go!"

The blond boy dashed forward, sliding a bit side to side as he ran towards his opponent. Sauske stood, perfectly calm, his arms still down. Naruto kept running, slowly drawing his arm back to punch, as the distance closed.

Sauske chose then to react. Slinging his back off his shoulder, he swung it around into his hand. "Catch!" he said suddenly, throwing his bag straight for Naruto.

The blond boy stumbled a bit, the brown bag hurtling towards his head. He threw his hands up, deflecting the school bag into the air. Then he noticed it.

Sauske dashed up close, his hands clenched to fight, his body twisted to put him in a good position to attack. He swung out with his left hand, punching Naruto in the chest, before pulling his hand back and turning around. Swinging his right hand up, he uppercut Naruto into the air, his feet rising off the ground, the blond boy howling in pain.

Sauske spun the rest of the way around, not pausing for an instant. His foot sliding on the ground smoothly, he lifted his right foot off the ground. Still turning, he used his inertia to plant a roundhouse kick into Naruto's side, launching the boy across the room. After a few feet, the blond haired boy crashed into the ground, rolling along the floor, until flopping down to a stop, a trail of dust flowing behind him.

THUMP! Sauske's bag hit the ground, and stillness followed.

Sauske walked over, snatching his bag off the ground. "Well, guess that's it, Naruto. Bye." Sauske walked out the door, shutting it behind him, as Naruto pulled himself off the ground.

"Oh no you don't! I can still fight!" he shouted, running to the door, and swinging it open, running down the hall. "WHERE ARE YOU, SAUSKE?!"

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed, jumping in front of the boy in the hall, clutching the end of her sword. "Will you shut up already?! If you're going to run around shouting, do it outside!"

"But . . ."

"BUT NOTHING! If you're going to keep shouting, go outside! NOW!"

"But . . ."

"NARUTO! Shut up or leave!"

The fact that Sakura had drawn her training sword, and was holding it up meanacingly at Naruto quickly ended the conversation. "Uh, yeah, you got it, Sakura-san. No harm done, right?"

Sakura's hands gripped tighter.

"WellIgottogonowSakurasoIguessI'llseeyoulaterbyenow!" Naruto said, running towards the door, and disappearing down the street.

- - -

Sakura filled the pot with water, placing it on the counter, when the door opened. "Hello!" a familiar female voice shouted.

"In here, Auska!" Sakura shouted.

A young redhead came bounding into the room. "Hi-yah, Sakura! Where is Mommy and Daddy?"

"Mother's out somewhere, and Father is visiting his friends, uh . . . Shampoo and Mousse, that was it."

"Oh, okay!"

"Where's Joseph and Amy?"

"Joseph spilled his bag outside, so they're cleaning it up. They'll be inside in a minute!"

"Okay." Sakura replied, reaching into the cabinet to pull out some rice.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Oh, Mother wanted me to start getting things ready for dinner, so I'm just getting the rice ready for sushi."

"Can I help?!" Auska asked happily.

"Sure, why not?"

- - -

Auska hopped up on the stool to see, her hands washed, and a small apron tied on over her school clothes. "Kay, what do I do?!" the girl exclaimed enthusiastically. She was smiling widely still, her red pigtails hanging down behind her shoulders.

"We're home!" another girl's voice said from the front door.

"In here, Amy!" Sakura shouted over her shoulder.

The long, brown haired girl walked into the kitchen. "What are you both doing?"

"Cooking!" Auska said happily.

"Really? Can I help?"

Auska looked up to her sister with big, puppy-dog eyes, almost pleading her to say yes. Sakura sighed. "Oh, Auska, you don't need to make that face. It may be a bit crowded in here, but why not?"

- - -

"All right, Auska, pour the rice out over there into that bowl." Sakura said, chopping more celery. "Then lay out the mat so we can roll the sushi."

"You got it!"

"All right, then Amy, you fill the pot with water again, and Auska, get the fish out of the fridge."

"Yes." Amy said, taking the pot, and walking back to the sink.

Auska walked to the refrigerator, opening it up, and hopping in the air, trying to reach the fish on the top shelf. After the fourth jump, she grabbed it, pulling it out, and brought it to her sister. "Where shud'i put it?"

"Over there on the counter. Amy, is the pot almost filled?"

"Yes, it will be done in a minute."

"Good." Sakura went back to the shelves to dig out another bag of rice, before talking over her shoulder. "When it's full, put it on the stove, Amy."

"All right, the pot is full."

Amy picked the pot back out of the sink, walking towards the other side of the kitchen, while Auska hurried back to close the refrigerator, before turning to return to her sister for more instructions. There were rumbling steps as someone raced down the stairs. Sauske appeared in the doorway. "Hey, what is for dinner, anyway?" He was now dressed in his martial arts gi, or what he passed for one. It was a uniform jacket, but with ordinary black pants and a plain white belt.

"I hope you finished your homework before you go training." Sakura replied, very motherly.

"Of course." He said back, smiling.

"We're makin' sushi, Sauske!" Auska cried happily, walking back into the kitchen.

Amy smiled as she saw him. "It will be gre . . . whaaa!"

The two younger girls crashed into each other. The water sloshed forward, spraying all over Auska and the pot. After an instant, Auska disappeared, her clothes collapsing onto the ground. The pot, now slick, slid out of Amy's hands, and crashed down onto the floor, on top of Auska's clothes, before Amy slipped backwards, falling down onto the ground.

Both Sauske and Sakura reacted instantly, shouting "AUSKA!" together, rushing over.

Sauske slid to a stop at the pot, before turning to Amy. "Amy! Quick, go get a bath started!" Amy, lifting herself off the ground, became pale when she noticed Auska had disappeared, but got up and ran upstairs anyway.

"Sauske! Call Uncle Ono now!" Sakura commanded, gently placing her fingers on the side of the pot.

"Right!" he said loudly, running to the phone on the wall, and dialing immediately.

The phone rang once, as Sakura chanted "Auska!" to herself, her face sheet-white. On the second ring, the phone picked up, and a woman answered. "Hello, Dr. Tofu's office."

"Aunt Kasumi! It's an emergency! Is Uncle Ono there?!"

"Oh, yes, hold on!"

"Auska, please be okay! Please be okay! Please be okay! Please be okay! Please be okay!" Sakura repeated in her head.

"Hello? Sauske? This is Ono."

"Doctor! Auska just changed into her cursed form, and we accidentally dropped a pot on her!"

"Oh, my! Base down?!"

"Uh . . . no, opening down. But haven't touched her yet. What should we do?"

"Gently lift it off, and tell me what's happened."

"Okay." Sauske turned the phone aside, looking to her sister. "All right, Sakura. Gently lift the pot off, and tell me if she's hurt."

Sakura gritted her teeth. "Please be okay!" she whispered to herself, lifting the pot up slowly, until it was several inches up, then swung it up high, looking down. "Please be okay!"

Next Chapter: Auska's cursed form, as well as her health, is revealed!

Hey, everybody! Well, that's the end of that chapter. If you were expecting more with the P-chan story, just continue onto the bio. I got plenty more for Akari.

Anyway, on with the reviews:

The Liz: Well, yes, maybe two days of being grounded is a bit soft, but it could be very strict too, since Ranma was never grounded. Then again, when he got in trouble, that usually meant someone sent him flying, so who knows whether or not that's strict.

Hibiki Akari

Age: 39

Occupation: Manager/Owner of Unryu Ranch

Strength: 1

Stamina: 1

Speed: 1

Ki: 1

Aura: 0

Special Techniques: 0

(Note: Akari does not fight with her hands, but through her sumo-pigs.)

Aki, like her husband Ryoga, has gone through many things since their first meeting many years ago. As for her physical appearance, she has aged, but still retains an apparent youth, and her small stature. As for her martial arts abilities, she still does not have any, but has done very minimal training to allow her to watch over the house on her own whenever Ryoga gets lost.

Her ranch, raising fighting pigs, however, has proved very successful. This is where her fighting strength has come from, and she has raised many fine battling pigs, and several exceptional ones as well. Her family often helps, especially Ryoga, who can, in emergencies, use his Jusenkyo curse of the drowned black pig to take the place of one of her battle pigs. While this hasn't earned them enough money to live comfortably and secure all the time, it has been more than enough for them to take care of her entire family, and the usual destruction that tends to follow Ryoga.

Her family, while very caring and loving, has probably been the most troubled of all the families coming after Ranma's arrival in Nerima. With Ryoga still having his very bad sense of direction, which meant Akari's family often just consisted of her and her two sons, Naruto and Kite. And while Ryoga was there whenever she really needed him, there were still many times where he would have been very useful to be around. From both the great events to the small ones, from Kite's discovery of his curse to the day to day chores of keeping the house and ranch in order.

Problems were at their worst during their engagement. At first, Akari knew she had made the right choice; she was sure nothing could happen to change that. Until Ryoga's curse was revealed. That set off a chain of events that would prevent the destruction of their engagement; although, at the time, breaking it seemed very appropriate.

When Akari first heard about how Ryoga acted as a pig with Akane, she denied it more furiously than Akane did, shutting herself away for most of the time, except for time with her friends (which did not include Ryoga and Ranma). And it was about the same time that Akane returned to her normal self that Akari was finally able to express her anger as well. Her first target, since her fiancé was now crash-landed somewhere within a thousand-mile radius, was Ranma.

Never being so angry before in her life, Akari vented much of her newfound frustration verbally onto Ranma, blaming him for knowingly allowing Ryoga to sleep with Akane in his pig form. Ranma, however, sat back and took it from both girls without question. That was to be Ranma's saving grace, and it set the precedent that Ryoga would have to follow to even have a chance to return to his older life (which he would). It was when Ryoga returned that Akari began to forgive Ranma, and soon, she knew the blame no longer rested with him.

When Ryoga returned, Akari's first reaction was similar to Ranma. The difference was, she was yelling much more than any other time, screaming at him about it daily. After kicking him out of the house for the twelfth time since he returned, something changed that would change her view. One she had finished her daily yelling at Ryoga, it happened that Akane was walking by to visit her, and noticed the lost boy in the road. Seeing as they were both alone, Akane sent Ryoga on a one way trip to who-knows-where. Akari, after minutes before screaming about how badly she wanted their engagement canceled, had calmed down greatly. And she saw exactly what Akane had done.

Akari and Akane had never argued so much in their life. Akane shouted about how much Ryoga deserved being hit, and that it was her that he betrayed, just as much as his fiancée. Akari argued back that he was her fiancé, and if she wanted to beat on anyone, Akane would have to settle with Ranma, and nobody else. They left each other a few minutes later, both angrier at the other than with Ryoga.

This pattern of Akari arguing with Ryoga, Akane beating up Ryoga, and then the two of them arguing about Akane's actions continued for a few months, until the last time Akane hit Ryoga simply for being P-chan. Akari spotted Akane about to hit Ryoga, and jumped in her way. Akane was able to stop the mallet in time, but their usual argument began again. The only difference was that during their debate, Akari shouted one thing at the top of her lungs. "I DON'T CARE, AKANE! HE'S MY HUSBAND-TO-BE STILL, AND IF YOU WANT TO HURT HIM, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME!"

Akane was as surprised by Akari as much as she was angry with Ryoga. Akane dropped the mallet and walked away, while Ryoga was all but paralyzed by Akari's words. After all, only five minutes before, Akari was shouting about breaking their engagement. A few months later, they were married, and the constant argument between Akari and Akane ended, and friendship between them returned even quicker. And while Akane still openly hated Ryoga, including in front of Akari, she never hit him for being P-chan ever again.

As for Akari and Ryoga, their relationship, even after getting together again so quickly, having children, and continuing their lives as before, was still often strained by the past for several years, each one getting slightly less pained as the one before.

Today, there are few things that really push their relationship problems out again. Akari truly has forgiven Ryoga, because it is so obvious how much Ryoga cares about her, and she cares about him. And no matter what others say about forgiving him for doing what he did, and no matter how much stress it has been to not only live with him, but also having a husband who is almost certainly lost every day, Akari is happy. It is difficult, painful, and challenging to live her own life, but as the old saying goes, "she wouldn't have it any other way."