Storms of Change
A Ranma ½ / Love Hina crossover
By: Kiikun

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and did not ask permission for their use. I make no money off of this and have no money to begin with, so suing me won't get you much.

02 – Concealing Clouds and Revealing Rains

Three days have passed since Ikumi woke up. Mutsumi, Nanami, and the twins still visited every day. Mutsumi knew how lonely and boring hospitals could be from the times she had to stay in them. Nanami was curious about the redhead and thought the girl would need a friend closer to her own age, even if the redhead was definitely a few years older than her. Akari and Kagari just liked playing with her. They thought Ikumi acted strange sometimes, and that's saying something considering just who their mother and siblings are.

The neurologist had shown up just before noon the day before and was done after about two hours. After double-checking his findings, he returned to her room to find Mutsumi and her mother waiting with 'Ikumi', as he learned she was being called. Looking the trio over a moment, he sighed and addressed the redhead.

"I don't think your amnesia is permanent, but your type is one of the more unpredictable ones that I know of. That hit to the head your file states wasn't the direct cause, but may have made it worse than it would have. Whatever caused your burns... well," he said while scratching at his temple while thinking of the best way to describe this.

"What about them?" Natsumi urged the specialist on after a moment.

With a sigh, he continued. "You know what happens to electronics with a power surge? Something similar happened to her," he said glancing to Ikumi, who just looked confused. "Right now, the best way to describe it is that your memories are scrambled like a jigsaw puzzle, and because of that you can't remember anything about yourself. Impersonal facts are going to be easier to remember since you'll only need to hear part of them, but since your personal memories are... well... personal, they are going to be a bit harder to recover, if at all. My best advice is to try and find something to help jog your lost memories. Simply being around your family or hometown should be enough to get most of you memories back, but like I said, I'm not even sure how much or how long it will take."

"So, I have to find out who I am to find out who I am?" Ikumi asked, looking confused and depressed.

He nodded in reply. "Though you'll probably start to recognize places or maybe even people first."

Mutsumi leaned over and hugged the distraught redhead. "Don't worry. We'll help," she smiled.

The redhead nodded and hesitantly hugged the older girl back.

Natsumi just smiled at her daughter and Ikumi, and then walked out of the room with the neurologist. She had some business to talk to the other doctor about.

At the moment, Ikumi was just sitting in her room, reading some mangas the girls had brought with them yesterday to give her something to do besides just sit there bored, and maybe she had read them before and they might jog a memory or something. They didn't know of any instant memory restoration pills or techniques, so they were all trying anything they could think of without stressing her out. At the moment she was reading a Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon volume and was not very impressed by it. Not that it was bad; she just liked that Slayers one better. Plus the girl's hair just looked silly.

When the nurse brought in her lunch, she was surprised to hear that Natsumi had visited earlier, but only talked with the doctor about something. The nurse left after dropping off the food, but Ikumi was too nervous to even eat. 'Do they know? Are they just going to leave me here?' she thought dejectedly as she curled up in a sitting position, hugging her legs. 'Please, Kami-sama. I don't want to be left alone like this...'

A few hours later, Mutsumi was knocked to the floor by a red blur when she opened the door to Ikumi's room. She looked down to see the redhead latched tightly around her waist with her face in her abdomen. "Ara! Is something wrong, Ikumi-chan?" Mutsumi asked as she gently hugged the girl.

After a minute, Ikumi sat back and quickly wiped her face on the sleeve of the hospital gown she wore. "I- I'm just glad to see you!" she said while laughing nervously and idly scratching at the base of her skull. She looked around and saw Nanami, Akari, Kagari, and young boy she hadn't met before standing around her. "Um... let's go into my room. It's better than standing around out here, ne?" she said as she rushed back into the room. The others followed afterwards.

The twins had climbed up on the bed with her, as usual, while Mutsumi, Nanami, and the boy were sitting in nearby chairs. She looked questioningly at him for a moment before Mutsumi spoke.

"That's our brother, Tsukuro," she said with a smile.

"Hey," he greeted with a not-exactly friendly smile.

"Be careful around him, Ikumi-neechan. He's a big meanie!" Akari warned.

"Quiet, ya little runt," he said to her, causing both twins to stick their tongues out at him. That, in turn, caused Nanami to sigh and both Mutsumi and Ikumi to laugh. "Argh, fine! Whatever! I only came here to see the comet that put a hole in our back yard anyway."

Ikumi just looked at him questioningly again as Mutsumi lightly hit him on the back of the head. "I told you she doesn't remember that and that we haven't told her yet," she chided her mouthy little brother, and then turned to the confused redhead. "I'm sorry. We didn't want to tell you yet because we didn't want to scare you."

"I put a hole in your yard?" she asked confusedly.

"A crater, actually," Nanami spoke up. "I wasn't actually there, but we had to drag you out of it."

"Oneechan thought you were a skydiver, but then told us to hide just before you hit the ground," Kagari said while hugging the girl's arm.

"You fell from way, way up!" Akari said, repeating the hand motions she made a week previous to a similar statement.

Ikumi had a worried and confused look on her face when Mutsumi reached out and placed a hand on hers. "You're ok now, so everything's alright. We can worry about these things later," Mutsumi said with a smile.

After a moment Ikumi smiled back. "Yeah, you're right."

Tsukuro had left to get himself a drink when the conversation had dropped to manga-chatter. He had seen what some his sisters liked and mostly stayed away from it. Only Tamami had even a few he liked.

He returned to see his mother and a doctor approaching the room just ahead of him. He just continued his pace and reached the room just as his mother began to speak.

"Shall we all go home now?" Natsumi said with a bright smile.

"But Okaasan, we just got here," Akari whined while grabbing onto Ikumi's arm. Kagari was still hanging off the other.

"Ara?" Natsumi said and tilted her head sideways while putting a finger to her chin. "Did I say anyone was staying behind?"

Mutsumi smiled while the other four young girls in the room just looked at Natsumi confused.

The doctor cleared his throat before speaking. "There's no more reason to keep you as an in-house patient, and Natsumi-san has offered to take you in."

Ikumi and Nanami just blinked a moment before both nearly shouted "Eh!"

The twins started trying to drag their new older sister out of bed while cheering.

"B- but, the hospital bill," Nanami started to say, wondering just how costly this girl's stay had been compared to her eldest sister's.

Natsumi just kept smiling. "Is all paid for by the family health plan."

"But, how?" Ikumi asked. "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything!" She was definitely grateful. Even with her mind as it is, she knew few people had been as kind to her as they had been.

"I've talked to a few officials and explained the situation to them. They said that until you can remember who you are or that your family finds you, that you can be placed as a temporary ward under my care," she smiled and mentally patted herself on the back for the idea. At least this way the girl wouldn't be sent off to foster families until she recovered.

"Aw, geez! Isn't 7 sisters enough!" Tsukuro grumbled loudly.

The twins continued trying to pull the slightly shocked redhead out of bed. "Come on, Ikumi-neechan! Let's go home and play!"

Mutsumi giggled as she walked to the twins and dislodged them from the girl. She whispered something to both of them, which caused them to grin and run out of the room. She then handed her a small package that no one had noticed before. "You should get dressed. You wouldn't want to be walking around outside in that now, would you?"

Ikumi just blinked, nodded, and accepted the package as Nanami and the rest exited, followed shortly by Mutsumi. What she found inside was a full set of clothing, including undergarments. It took her a minute to get the bra and panties on comfortably. She kept shifting them around because they felt odd on her, but she pushed the feeling aside as she got used to wearing them and assumed it was a symptom of the memory loss and wearing nothing but a hospital gown for at least a week.

The dress was simple as well. It was a light blue slip-on dress with a hint of a floral pattern in the way the light hit it. She looked at herself and cringed for a moment. 'Yep, I don't think this is the kind of thing I used to wear,' she thought and sighed as she stepped to the door, carrying all the mangas she had now in the cloth wrapping the clothes had been in.

"Arara! You just look so adorable in that!" Natsumi gushed and hugged her as Mutsumi smiled at her choice in outfits. Indeed, Ikumi looked gorgeous in the dress; it even matched her eye-color.

Ikumi just turned red from embarrassment, but endured it until the woman released her. "C-can we go... home?" she said, hesitating with the last word. It felt like an odd word for her, like it was a place she hadn't been to in a long time.

Natsumi smiled and they all headed to the Otohime household together.

When they arrived, Mutsumi held Ikumi back, smiling while saying "We need to wait just a few moments."

The redhead just looked at her confused, with a hint of worry. 'Have they changed their minds about this?' she though to herself, making her even more scared.

Natsumi came back to the doorway with a smile and waved them both in after a few minutes. What Ikumi saw inside surprised her.

In the living room stood Nanami, Akari, Kagari, an older man, and two younger girls all smiling and cheering in unison. "Okaeri nasai, Ikumi-chan/neechan/san!" Tsukuro was there as well, but was not joining in the cheer.

Ikumi froze. The greeting felt almost as distant to her as the word 'home' had felt, like it was one she never really heard used for her. After a moment tears began to fill her eyes and she smiled brilliantly. "Tadaima," she said hoarsely as the twins ran up and resumed their earlier places on her arms as a few of the others laughed.

The little welcoming party went on for about an hour before Natsumi called for its end. She asked everyone to sit across from Ikumi so she could formally introduce everyone.

"First. You've already met my eldest daughter, Mutsumi," Natsumi started while Mutsumi just smiled. "She's 22 years old."

"Next, my third daughter, Nanami," she said while Nanami waved. "She's 12."

"My fourth daughter, Tamami," she said, gesturing to the girl with shorts and a t-shirt sitting with her arms crossed. Her hairstyle was similar to the twins', but lacked the antennae that they had. "She's 10, and a bit of a tomboy."

"Okaasan!" Tamami yelled. "Excuse me for liking sports more than playing with dolls," she huffed eliciting a giggle from Mutsumi.

Natsumi just smiled and continued. "Tsukuro, my eldest and only son. Age 9."

Tsukuro just yawned in reply.

"The twins; Akari and Kagari, age 7," she said gesturing to the two girls.

"And over on the couch," she gestured to the little girl, sleeping on said furniture. "Is my baby girl, Pokari."

"Pokari the Sloth," Tsukuro snickered, granting him a forced faceplant to the tatami mats, courtesy of Tamami.

"I told you to stop calling her that!" she growled at her younger brother.

"OK! OK! Just let me up! Geez," he said while rubbing his nose.

Akari and Kagari had moved over to Ikumi's sides, again, during the little confrontation. "See? Told ya Oniichan was a meanie," Akari said, with a sagely nod from Kagari.

Natsumi just tsked at Tsukuro's words before continuing. "My second daughter, Chinami, is going to high school in Tokyo and living with friends there. She's 17. And lastly is my father-in-law," she said, gesturing to the old man who had just walked back into the room after throwing out the bulk of the party's garbage.

"Tsukigami Akira," he said with a bow, and then smiled. "I am glad you are well, Ikumi-chan."

Ikumi bowed back. "Thank you, Tsukigami-san." She then bowed deeply to everyone in the room. "Thank you all for taking me into your home."

Mutsumi stood up with a smile. "And now it's time for the grand tour!" she cheered as she and the twins lead their new, temporary sister around the house.

Back in Nerima, a full week had passed with no sign of Ranma. Many still held the belief he was vaporized by the storm. The ones that believed he had survived were split between 'he's injured' and 'he's finally run away'.

The odd, unpredictable rains that seemed to permeate the ward had picked up in frequency since then, much to the chagrin of the remaining cursed individuals in said ward.

With no one in the school able to stand up to Kuno, his ramblings continued on and on until he had to stop to breathe. By the third day of this, people were running the opposite direction and taking alternate routes whenever they saw him. The only one able to shut him up for any length of time was Nabiki, who would only sell him pictures at three times the price and only after he'd shut his mouth for a full hour. The kendoist, now lacking actually seeing his loves in person, gladly complied.

Kodachi, on the other hand, was a complete wreck. She had finally emerged from her room after a week to go to school. She was literally shaking the entire time and was barely able to pay attention to her surroundings. After falling out of her chair in class for the third time, they sent her off to the nurse, who said she was suffering from withdrawal and sent her to the same hospital where Akane was staying. Neither of them knew that fact though.

Speaking of the Tendo heiress, she was still bedridden in the hospital. Most of her lesser scars had healed over completely, leaving her with her arm in a cast, and two still healing legs. Ukyo had broken her arm in several places and it would take months to heal properly before they could remove the cast. Her legs, though, were her own fault. Ukyo had managed to get a strong hit on her with that giant spatula while she was airborne that was what first broke her arm and then sent her flying towards a wall. She got the stupid idea in her head that she could do whatever Ranma had and tried to rebound off the wall with her legs. The plan was shot when she hit too stiffly and almost crippled herself. At the moment they were only badly strained and had minor fractures that would heal naturally, but only if she stayed off them.

The physical pain, though, wasn't the worse part for her. After her 'Ice Queen' sister had nearly bit her head off the one time she visited, she had been forced to realize Ranma hadn't, and probably wouldn't return. That she had probably killed her fiancée and had no one to blame but herself. That thought alone hurt more than her arm thrice over, and all she could do about it was cry; for Ranma, and for her own stupidity.

Kasumi had seen her crying during her daily visits, but had said nothing. Akane deserved to suffer this pain alone. She wasn't trying to be cruel, but this was possibly the best way to help her sister. She had tried to be a surrogate mother after their own mother died, but she was too young to know what to do and had failed quite miserably.

She, herself, had failed to grow up properly as well. While she was trying to fit into her mother's shoes, Nabiki had somehow learned to comfort herself with money, and Akane never had a proper role model or parent to guide her and had grown up with only her emotions as a guide. Their father had taken their mother's death the worse though. Kasumi didn't understand it, but she had overheard a few of her father's late night ramblings shortly after her mother's death. "Again. I've failed my family again," he would repeat over and over between sobs. She still didn't understand what it meant, but never asked.

Nabiki had been watching everyone around her like a hawk since Akane was hospitalized. When Ranma hadn't returned, she smelled something wrong. When she had finally contacted the police on an update about the missing person's report she placed and they said they had nothing yet, she knew something was terribly wrong. The fact the police hadn't even found a body was a good sign in her book. That meant that either Ranma had been vaporized, which was unlikely, or he was still alive somewhere.

The other oddities in the area were beginning to concern her too. Ukyo vanishing wasn't exactly unexpected, but was much sooner than she expected. Konatsu was less that helpful with information, having thrown her out of Ucchan's and stated that if Akane even tried to enter, he would do worse than his mistress had. The amazons hadn't attempted anything yet, and she had expected something to happen with Shampoo the day after the event. She could only guess that old hag, Cologne, was thinking along the similar lines she was. She would have to talk to her sooner or later.

The worst, yet most subtle oddity she'd noticed so far was Ranma's mother, Nodoka. She never really paid much heed to the manliness-obsessed woman before, but she was noticing little things wrong with what she had thought of the woman. She was now inseparable from her katana and would often lock herself alone in the room she and her panda of a husband shared in the dojo for hours on end. The first thing that got Nabiki's attention though, was the fact that when Nodoka thought no one was looking, the glare she directed at Genma would have made even Kami-sama himself cringe.

By the end of the week, Nabiki decided to face Nodoka about whatever she was hiding. Secrets in the ward were one thing. Secrets in her own home, Nabiki wouldn't stand. She managed to find Nodoka sitting alone in the dojo, facing the Tendo family shrine that was mounted on the far wall. No one else was at home, so this was the perfect chance.

"Saotome-san," she said flatly as she closed the door behind her.

Nodoka sat in silence for a moment before responding. "What is it, Nabiki?"

She stared at the back of the auburn-haired woman's head. "I want to know the truth."

"The truth?" she asked with an incredulous tone in her voice. "Like the truth about 'Ranko'? The truth about my husband? The truth about how you all hid them from me for months?"

"No," she said in her Ice Queen voice. "I want the truth about you. I've seen how you looked at your husband recently."

Nodoka didn't respond and Nabiki quickly grew frustrated.

"It's the contract, right? Ranma's gone and you're going to call the contract down on your husband."

Nodoka still remained silent.

"I really don't care about that idiotic panda; make yourself a panda-skin rug out of him for all I care. Just don't bring it down on Ranma when he comes back."

"I have been contemplating it," Nodoka finally stated just before Nabiki was frustrated enough to storm out. "A rug would be worth more than my husband at the moment. The fact that none of you are carrying my son's child puts him in a position where everything is unclear."

"You're still hung up on grandchildren! THAT'S what this is about!" Nabiki growled out.

Nodoka replied with silence once again.

Nabiki glared at the woman's back. "Saotome Nodoka, I once thought better of you. All you care about is grandchildren when your own SON may be dead. You're no better than Akane." With that, she stormed out of the room.

After hearing the door slam behind her, Nodoka slumped forward, letting her katana slip from her hand and clatter to the floor as she wiped the flowing tears from her face. "May the kami forgive me," she whispered to herself as she finally let herself break down in muffled sobs.

Author's Notes: And here's the second chapter! I got on a roll with the Nerima section and ended up ending the chapter with it, again.

Rionach, Slade13: the curse hasn't changed at all. Just a bit of 'chaos overload' has given Ranma a reprieve from the water magnet part of the curse for now.

Wonderbee31: I don't plan on messing with the Keitaro-Naru pairing... yet. Plans can always change. Naru really is better than Akane once she's calm. I think it would take a horse tranquilizer to 'calm' Akane.

Jerry: Thanks :3 You mean the story name? I was racking my brain for weeks before it popped up. Originally was gonna call it 'A Bolt from the Blue' (01's title), but knew that didn't sound as good as it could have.

DarkHeart: Actually, I have plans for Ranma/Ikumi and Mutsumi that will start showing up in the next few chapters. And I've only seen her kiss Keitaro and Naru, claiming to have only been a tool for them to share a kiss.

KaOn Kai: I've read a bit of it now. I don't plan on the permanent amnesia route that that story takes.

Sekikage: Akane IS a pain, and I think there are enough fics out there that mess Akane's personality up both ways. She is human, just unbalanced badly. I didn't want a demon-Akane or an angel-Akane, just a human Akane with human problems. I may even expand on her too, or an after-fic/sidestory.

Hiryo: Ranma crashed down completely naked. Maybe I should have made that clearer. My story-notes had only the elastic of the boxers remaining, but that never found a clean place to be inserted. It (the reference and the elastic) went in the garbage. The blanket was to keep the perverted old men from ogling the comatose redhead.

Trugeta: I don't think Akane ever was really observant, so that's how I portrayed her. And she had was really in a berserker-rage while fighting Ukyo, so seeing Neko-Ranma cat-kissing Ukyo made her totally lose it. I think a few demons were nearby admiring their handiwork. Ukyo's attack on Akane was simply grief-fed. As this chapter shows, Nerima's becoming a nice little hellhole for the NWC. The martial arts question should be answered in the next chapter, if I don't put too much before it that is.

ss4-link: Ranma's memory will return, slowly, but it will come back fully. And I have plans for the curse's revelations

Thanks to the people of Shinji's Sharing for helping me pre-read.
MGsaintz (for being my personal idea-board, you get top billing :P)
Diablo

And thanks to all you who reviewed, I hope I answered your questions and cleared up a few things.