Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, I only rent him.

Chapter 4 We three kings

Ranma tried to revive his mother while Kasumi was doing the same with her father. Nabiki just stared at the new comers. Akane looked confused.

Genma was the first to react, other than fainting that is.

"Who are you boys, and why do you look like us?"

"Us?"

Nabiki was wondering what Genma meant, until she looked toward him again and then back to the older young man. 'So that was why Nodoka and Daddy fainted.'

"Hello father."

"He's not our father Yoshi."

Yoshi turned to his brother. This wouldn't do.

"He is for now. If you would please, I would like to explain."

Yoshi turned back to address the others. He knew that Nakama wouldn't interfere again. He understood Nakama's reluctance, but what happened earlier only proved that this was the right thing to do.

"I assume from Mother's and Uncle Soun's reactions that they recognise who I resemble. I see that they're coming around."

"Genma, I just had the wierdest dream that you were 20 again and walked into the Tendo's livingroom.."

"That's strange Mrs Saotome, I had the same strange dream."

"It wasn't a dream dear. It seems that Ranma isn't the only one with a look alike."

Soun and Nodoka opened their eyes and stared at the young men. For the both of them it was like going back more than twenty years. The only thing this young man was missing were a pair of glasses.

Looking over at the two, it was like Nakama was reading their minds. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of reading glasses and put them on.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Nakama turned to Ranma as he started asking questions.

"Are you an only child? Have you always been an only child?"

"Nakama, I'll explain everything. I'm sorry everyone. I guess I should start with who we are. I am Yoshi Saotome, age 20. This is my brother Nakama Saotome, age 18. We have noticed that you are use to magic, so I hope you will be able to understand. We are from another world. On our world we were born the elder children of Genma and Nodoka Saotome."

Nodoka stared at Yoshi as he talked. If anyone had been paying atention, they would have noticed that she seemed to be counting.

"We had just started on a journey in our world, when we had gotten caught in a hurricane and had taken shelter in a cave. We are pretty sure that it was the cave that got us here, because we were in the cave for only a few minutes and suddenly the outside was like there had never been a storm. Theland itself looked different. The cave itself disappeared shortly after we left it. We found that we had been moved to the other side of Tokyo, and that we were in your world. We have been here for about four months."

"If you've been here for four months, then how come we haven't noticed you until now?"

"We've only been in Nerima for about three weeks."

"Why?"

"We've been avoiding it."

Everyone turned to Nakama as he mentioned this fact.

"Why would you be avoiding Nerima?"

"I'm going to go meditate. Mr Tendo, may I use your dojo?"

"I guess it'll be alright, but I'd like to know more about-"

Soun never finished what he was saying because Nodoka was suddenly across the room and he had her hands on Yoshi's face.

"Yoshi? Is it really you? And Nakama? You're both alright?"

Everyone stared as she started crying. Yoshi did the only thing he could, and put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry mother. Nakama looked into it and we found out what happened. We didn't know how you and father would react to us being here."

Genma looked at his wife, and then realised what she was talking about. He suddenly started to pale as is he was looking at a pair of ghosts. He turned to Nakama as he tried to walk by him.

"Son? Is that you?"

"As near as I can figure, 'pops', Mom didn't lose her first two chilren in our world. Yoshi will explain everything. I gotta go."

Genma was about to stop Nakama again, when he felt an arm on his shoulder. He turned and saw Yoshi there shaking his head. Yoshi had the beginings of tears in his eyes.

No one stopped Nakama as he left the house.

"I guess I should start from the begining. Please, could everyone wait until I'm finished before you ask any questions?"

Everyone nodded, they were all curious as to the secret of these two boys.

"I think it would be best if I tell Ranma the first part that happened here. Ranma, you weren't the first child our parents concieved."

Kasumi gasped and turned to Ranma as she figured out what Yoshi was trying to say.

"What are you talking about?"

"He means, son. That your mother and I were blessed with two expectant children before you were born. They would have been your older brothers."

Ranma felt a chill go up his spine. He knew that he didn't want to ask the next question.

"What happened?"

Ranma watched as his mother started holding onto Yoshi tighter. She had long tracks of tears running down her eyes. Everyone bearly heard her choked out reply.

"I lost them, both of them. I thought the Gods were punishing me. I was actually afraid I'd lose you too when I got pregnant for a third time."

Ranma turned to his father. It had been years since Ranma had seen that posture on his frame, that look on his face. Genma was feeling the weight of all the sins he had ever committed, both real and imagined. Genma live by a bent form of honor, but always justified it because he always knew how it could be worse. He had a very good imagination for sins.

Nabiki actuall felt a small pain of regret breaking up this moment, but one question was chewing on her mind.

"Won't your family be worried about you? You said you've been gone for four months."

Yoshi got a look in his eyes. He looked down at the woman he was holding. He remembered days of youth when he'd try to help his mother in the kitchen. She had taught him the importance of kindness. He remember the pain of losing her once, and then the loses of later days...

"They're dead, all of them."

Yoshi had been trying to be the strength while Nakama tried to pull himself back together. But there were some things he knew that he would never be strong enough for. For Yoshi the pain was still too fresh. Slowly, he broke down and started crying in Nodoka's arms.

Everyone watched the scene and there were few dry eyes in the room. Nabiki was barely holding her own emotions under control. Nabiki slowly slipped out of the room. She could tell that it would be a while before anyone was in a shape to continue. She still wanted answers, and she knew of one other person who could give them to her.

Nabiki slowly approached the Dojo. She had been expecting the sounds of Kata's like Ranma uses, or the sounds of breaking bricks ala Akane. She was surprised to hear silence. She was begining to think Nakama had left, but saw him sitting on the floor with his back to the door. He actually seemed to be meditating.

"Have a seat. It'd be polite to see each other while we talk."

Nabiki blinked. She hadn't expected the guy to notice her arrive. Seeing no better option, she walked over to Nakama and sat on the floor in front of him. She saw that he was in the proper Lotus Position with his eyes closed.

"How far did he get?"

Nabiki wondered how best to get the answers she wanted, it seemed that just a normal chat would be all she'd need.

"He said your family was dead."

"Oh. I didn't think he'd get much farther than that, Well, first off our mother died when we were children. I don't even remember anything about her. I guess she's like the woman in there."

"So you don't see Auntie Saotome as your mother?"

"No, that would mean that that was my father and younger brother in there. I personally laid their remains to rest myself just over four months ago."

"Is that why you guys left for your trip?"

"Indirectly. We actually left because of the vow to unite the Tendo and Saotome schools of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

"Why?"

"Remember when we said we were avoiding Nerima?"

"Yes."

"We weren't. We were avoiding the Tendo Dojo. We actually didn't know we had gone to a different world until we saw Ranma running around alive. Yoshi almost lost it thinking our brother had come back from the grave. I didn't believe it, so I started spying on Ranma. I then started spying on the other Saotome's here. I finally found the answer about how our worlds were different."

"How so?"

"Akane isn't an only child here."

Nabiki was confused for a moment. Of course Akane wasn't an only child. Finally it dawned on her what Nakama meant. She saw him open his eyes and look at her. He seemed to be as much in control of himself as anyother time.

"Exactly. Our little brother and the Akane we know were in love with each other. With our family dead, we didn't care too much about the pledge. Niether of us wanted to put Akane threw the pain of marrying one of us. It would have been like saying that Ranma didn't matter and could be replaced."

"How did it happen?"

Nabiki watched as Nakama slowly started to get up. He began moving into some warm up kata's. Nabiki was about to try asking again when he answered.

"It was a Demon. It had broken out of an anchient temple and had attacked the town. It was our sworn duty as Martial Artists to stop it. We threw everything we had at it. Pops was the first to fall. We were trying to save him and get him out of the battle, when it turned on Akane. It almost got her, but it never saw Ranma coming. He bought Akane the seconds she needed to get to safety, then it ripped him in half."

"I'm sorry. I guess Ranma's always Ranma."

"Yeah, that's what made being near your Ranma so hard. He's practically identical to our little brother. Except he has a solidarity in his eyes that our Ranma didn't have. Our brother had, and trusted, us."

"How did you beat the demon?"

"I watched my brother died before my eyes and heard my father give his last breath. I stopped caring about the innocent bystanders."

"What do you mean?"

Nabiki screamed and jumped back as Nakama started glowing red. Not just glowing like Ranma and his chi attack, but there was dark lightning arcing about Nakama's bady. Nabiki caught the look in his eyes and was terrified. It was a look of the greatest hate and rage that she had ever seen. She watched as his eyes quickly turned bloodshot before the red completely covered his eyes. Finally Nakama screamed and fired the energy that had appearently been gathering in his hands. He fired to the left of Nabiki, and angled up.

Nabiki turned and watched throught the window next to the hole Nakama made. The blast not only ripped through the wall and kept going, but Nabiki watched as it flew for at least three miles. Finally, it exploded... and the entire shy turned red for a moment.

Nabiki slowly turned around to see Nakama rubbing his eyes with his shirt. He had his glasses out again in his other hand.

"Sorry. That attack agrivates my eyes. I normally only need these to read. I'll be fine again in about a day."

Nakama put his glasses on in time to watch him brother Yoshi come running in.

"Nakama! What happened? I saw the sky. What were you firing at?"

"The sky. I needed to blow off some steam, and I missed the window."

Nabiki turned to Nakama. She knew that shot had hit where it aimed. Nakama had fired threw the wall to demonstrate the power for her, and had missed the window so that she could see the blast's finale.

This guy was potentially dangerous, even deadly. But he had acted in the same ice demenor the first time she had seen him. What could have cost him some of his control?

Taro! She ralised exactly what it must have looked like and meant from Nakama's perspective for the first time since Namaka had put Taro in critical condition. Nakama had been trying to save Ranma's life. It wasn't Nakama's fault for knowing Taro wasn't a demon. Heck, Taro even called himself a demon sometimes.

Nodoka looked at her other 'lost son' and saw the fading red in Nakama's eyes. The boy was going to lose his eyesight one day if he didn't start taking care of his eyes better.

"Come along son, let's go take care of those eyes properly."

"Huh?"

Nakama was confused and suddenly found himself with his shirt being pulled towards the house. Nodoka quickly retrieved what she needed and Nakama soon found himself laying on the couch with his head in Nodoka's lap. A brief memory stired in his head of his mother once doing the same thing when he was a little boy.

ooooo

"And that's what Nakama told me. Is that about it Yoshi?"

Nabiki had juat explained to everyone else what she and Nakama had been talking about. Yoshi nodded his head. It seems hat Nakama had mentioned everything. But something was nagging at him. He couldn't place what it was until Kasumi asked him a question that let Yoshi know what Nakama forgot to mention.

"So it was just Daddy and Akane here taking care of the dojo?"

Yoshi turned to Kasumi and shaked his head.

"There was one other person living at the dojo before we moved in."

"Oh really, who?"

Yoshi took a deep breath.

"Akane's mother."

ooooo

Author's Notes: There you go. One origin on a silver plater. Now all that's left is the fallout when the Fiancee brigade find out that there are three more Saotomes.

Also in the next chapter, Nabiki follows Nakama to "Work".

As always, please review if you like.