Ranma 1/2
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I own none of these characters, just the story that I have put them into. For a more in depth rant try reading my other story, For Future Times. It may or may not be posted by now.
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Remembrance
Chapter 2
It was just as he remembered it, if he was able too do so, the scars of destruction that he had once wrought on the building were still there. These scars were the result of people fighting for an ideal most called love, but one he called trouble. Or he supposed he would have before he lost his memory. Now he was not even sure why he grew sentimental at the sight of such an ordinary edifice of learning. Nothing was really spectacular about this school, it was the same shape as normal schools of the area. It was the same white color, it was blocky and unimportant looking, and its name was Furinkan High School. It had a clock.
This clock was about one minute away from chiming when the part of Ranma's mind that warned him of danger seconds before it happened signaled that it would be a good idea to be on the lookout for trouble. The signal in his mind was assaulting him like a klaxon warning of an impending nuclear meltdown a reactor plant. Something big was about to strike this place and he knew that a lot of people would die if he did not figure out what it was. There were kids going on about their business on the school grounds and some where hurrying to class. He scanned the area in saw a shadow disappear into the trees.
"Hitomi," Ranma looked at the girl seriously, "I want you to keep anyone from entering the gate, something big is about to happen."
The girl was obviously confused but nodded anyway, who was she to argue with this man, "Alright."
Ranma smiled and patted her on the head lightly to reassure her that everything would be all right. Running around the building, Ranma quickly tried to find the man but there was no sign of him. He would have to be careful from here on out, one wrong move could cause whatever it was that was going to happen to happen early. Then he heard a rustling of bushes and it connected that with the wind was not strong enough to cause the movement of said object. Running towards the sound, he found a man running in the opposite direction from the school and without hesitation he jumped forward, landing in front of the man, and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"What did you do?" Ranma wanted to know and he left no room for error in his voice.
The man laughed and pointed at the watch around his wrist, "I planted a bomb in the school, and it's remotely detonated by this watch when the countdown ends. It was meant to catch you but I guess you will have to live with the memory of all those innocents. Stop it if you can, it is on the roof. You have two minutes.
Cursing, Ranma decided he would keep this man alive, he might know something. Pressing a pressure point quickly, he ran back towards the school and without hesitation he ran into the building as fast as he could. As he ran he yelled for everyone to get out. He screamed that the school was going to explode and they would die if they did not get out. He was running so fast that his momentum carried him onto the walls and out of the way of the fleeing people as he ran towards the bombs. It had taken him a minute and he was only half way there. He put everything he had into making himself run faster than he had ever run before. He had thirty seconds when he finally reached the top of the building and found the bomb laying in the corner. The controls were simple, which was strange, just an on and off button. He studied it for a few seconds to make sure there was no failsafe and then pushed the off button and sighed. Standing up he was about to walk back down the stairs when he heard a beeping sound and he looked at the bomb to see a message. It mocked him, it told him that he was stupid to think that there would be only one bomb. At least that was what was translated in his mind by the continuing countdown. He had five seconds to get of there before the second bomb went off. He spotted it at the other corner of the room. It was too far away.
Then he noticed one of the kids standing and staring at him, her eyes were sharp and accusing. She seemed oblivious of the danger, she just stared at him, and of course she would not know what was going on. He had very little time and he did the only thing he could think of, he ran towards the girl and grabbed her right before the bomb went off and he jumped from the roof of the school. He had never jumped from this far up but he was sure that he could handle it… right.
The wind blew by him as he held the girl in his arms and witnessed the ground getting closer. The fall was longer than he expected and he tried to work out whether or not he would be able to handle it. After careful consideration he determined that he could, though it would hurt a bit. Then the ground approached and he landed heavily in a crouch on his feet. He knew what came next, debris fell around him and the shielded the girl with his body as rock the size of his head and larger rained down like death, or at least very intense pain, around them. The rocks hit him but he did not let the girl go until he was sure that the danger had passed. Finally he stood and let her go, he followed her out of the gate as pain assaulted him a various parts of his body.
Had he been able to see his back he would have seen that his shirt was torn and there was a gash there that freely let his blood flow. He walked out of the school gates and looked back at the ruined school with certain regret. Then he remembered the man he left unconscious in the bushes and ran back to the spot he left him to find that he was already dead. Someone had found the man's body and shot him once in the chest and once in the forehead, so much for trying to find out information from the man. Ranma walked back to the front gate where everyone had crowded and found Hitomi looking at him strangely, almost worriedly. He walked up to her and smiled reassuringly.
"I'm fine," Ranma said easily, "and so is everyone else."
The girl looked up at him, her face not changing, "Your back is all bloody."
The man blinked and took off his shirt and saw that there was a big cut and a bloody spot on the back. He reached his hand around and inspected, feeling something warm and wet he brought his hand back around and found that it was covered in blood. While he was doing this he failed to notice that some of the female police officers that had arrived on the scene where freely ogling him.
They ran their eyes over his chiseled form and came to rest of his dark blue eyes and his gentle face. One of them walked up and asked if she could take care of the wound on his back, to which he replied that he could take care of it himself. More women gathered around and started to hound him, causing him to get even more irritated with every passing second. Finally he let out a growl and leapt out of the fray and into the road which he was bout to run down when he felt someone grab his arm and handcuffs put on him.
Looking down in annoyance he was about to yell at the person that did this until he found himself standing in front of a woman with short dark hair and brown eyes. He had the feeling that he had seen her before, maybe, damn this whole amnesia thing sucked. He thought he might as well let her cuff him and explain what happened before he involved the police farther than he had to.
"You're coming with me," the woman said, "And don't try anything funny."
Ranma smiled and shrugged, "That's fine but you might want to get this wound on my back taken care of unless you want blood all over your car."
With a frown the woman motioned for one of the doctors, who walked over to her, "Yes, officer Tendo?"
"Bandage this man up quickly, I want to question him," The woman said.
"Yes ma'am," the man said and he walked over to his ambulance and got some gauze and medical tape and quickly wrapped the man's wound.
The woman nodded briefly and said, "It will do for now, I'll get it stitched up later," then she shoved him into the car and took him to the police station.
Ranma lay back in the police car, silent as he was chauffeured to the police station by the woman who drove the car. He really had nothing to say now that would make a difference. He just watched the light cast shadows inside the car as it drove along the road as they made their way to the station. It was weird that he was left with so much time to reflect on what had been happening. Maybe it was that he had no memories to occupy his mind and he was trying to fill the time by thinking about how his life was now. Maybe he should just escape and be on his way, it would not be hard. Or maybe he should just get out of the car and see what this police woman had to ask him. They had arrived at the police station after all.
As the woman opened the door he climbed out and walked into the station, still shirtless, and allowed himself to be sat in an interrogation room. The wound on his back was getting slightly uncomfortable now and he had to move around to try and keep his back from touching the chair too much, which made him slouch. The woman walked in and stood in front of him with her arms crossed.
"So, who are you?" the woman asked pointedly.
Ranma shrugged, "I've been told my name is Ranma Saotome. Though I would be more inclined to tell you that I really don't know."
"You're playing with me," the woman said harshly, "Who are you and why were you able to get to that building before the bomb went off and clear it out? I want you to answer these questions."
"I bet you do," Ranma said easily, "So here you go, I don't know, and I was told by the man I found, the one who is now dead, I did not kill him by the way, in the woods behind the school, that there was one bomb on the roof. He said one, I did not know about the other one."
The woman sighed and shook her head, "You are as stubborn as ever. Tell me if you are Ranma Saotome or not."
Ranma stood suddenly and got in her face, separated by an inch of air, "Look police officer, I answered your question already. I may be him, I may not. Now let me go so I can find out or I'm going to make everyone in your station have a bad day. Do YOU understand?"
"You had better take a step back," the woman said, "I will let you go. However I will be required to escort you. Now let's get going."
Ranma followed the woman out of the room and again he was led to a police car only this time he was allowed to sit in the front seat. It was a bit different from the back, mostly due to the fact that there was no kind of restraint to keep him from attacking the woman. There was no reason to do so now but he needed to know if he would need to do so if the option was needed. He told her that he needed to go to the warehouse that had been bombed a few days ago, so she took him there without a word and as they arrived they found that it had been taped off. Around the barricade was a group of police officers keeping people out. Ranma decided he would let them play their game, he walked right up to one of them and told them he needed to be let through. When the policeman refused he shrugged and walked past the man without hesitation.
"Hey, stop," the man shouted.
The woman who was supposed to be watching him ran up behind him after explaining to the officer that it was okay. Ranma was making his way to the wreckage and had begun to sift through the rubble by the time she had gotten to him. He did not say anything to her but it was clear there was something troubling him as he searched. There was something on his mind, something that seemed inherently dangerous, and she was not sure that bothering him would be wise at the moment.
He turned suddenly and looked at her, "I think that this place is where it happened. The more I stay here the more I get these flashes of memory, unfortunately I have not been able to keep them in my mind."
The woman nodded, "I see, well my name is Akane Tendo, I will let you go for now but be sure to contact me if you do find anything. I have to be going."
Ranma nodded before something flashed through his mind, no, not a flash but an actual memory. A picture of a girl went through his mind, smiling, laughing, angry, all the emotions. The man tried to shake the feeling away but there was no denying that this was an actual memory. It was a big chunk of memory that he had been missing but it still did not tell who he was. It did tell him that he knew the woman named Nabiki and that she was the older sister of Akane, and yet there was one woman missing from the picture. She had long brown hair held back in a single ponytail that usually hung down in front over one of her shoulders, her name was Kasumi.
Ranma looked at the woman as she left and was unable to speak for a while, there was a feeling of deep long in him. He suspected that it was the reason for his jealousness towards the man named Ryouga. He was not able to go any farther than that. He tried hard to get past there but he could only get to the "what" and not the "why". He spent a little more time walking around the site before he realized it was getting late, and also that he should probably get a watch at some point, and he started walking back towards Nabiki's house. On the way there a police car traveling the same way as him flashed its lights and he stopped to see what the officer wanted. That was when he realized that it was the same girl from before, Akane.
Bending at the waist slightly he asked, "Can I help you officer?"
Akane sighed in disgust, "You really don't change, you may not know who you are but I can tell by your actions that you are Ranma. I was wondering where you were going."
Ranma blinked, "Um, this may sound strange, but I'm going back to your sister's house. I told Nabiki I would be home for dinner."
"You did now," Akane said as she looked at the clock on the dash of her police cruiser, "Well you won't make it unless I give you a ride, hop in."
He knew that it was inevitable so he did not argue, "Whatever you say, ma'am."
As he climbed into the car, Akane flipped the siren on and before Ranma could even buckle his restraint he found himself hurling through traffic at speeds in excess of sixty miles an hour. He knew that Nabiki's house was a ways away from the destroyed warehouse but this was ridiculous. The man cringed slightly as they drifted around a corner and came about an inch from an oncoming car before the car was once again taken into the proper lane. They drifted around another corner and the woman flipped the sirens off and slowed down. They were just a block away from her sister's house.
"You said you didn't know who I was," Akane said as they neared the house, "How did you know that Nabiki was my sister."
Ranma composed himself after a second before he cleared his throat and awkwardly replied, "Just after you left something happened, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I regained part of my memory, at least the part dealing with you and your family. Speaking of which, where is your oldest sister, Kasumi."
Akane sighed, "She wanted to stay with dad, and I think she started a family but she still cooks food for him and her family."
"Always was a homebody," Ranma acknowledged, "So where are you off to after this?"
The car pulled up to the house and stopped, Akane opened her door and said, "I'm going to visit my sister, we have not talked in a while."
Ranma blinked as she got out, he felt his impending doom approaching shortly,
"Uh, you really don't have to," he said with nervousness that the woman did not notice.
"Nonsense," Akane replied.
The man quickly got out of the car and joined her at the doorway as she knocked. He felt like he was being punished, from what he remembered of Akane she was easily angered and would usually take it out on him. With a certain resigned feeling in him he gulped as Nabiki opened the door and smiled as she saw him and then became neutral as she saw her sister.
"Ah, to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit, sister," Nabiki said in her normal sarcastic tone, "Surely this isn't anything to do with dear Ranma."
He really wished she would not do that, mostly because it made Akane angry as Ranma had thought it would. She was rubbing it in her face that she had lost the first man she may have been in love with. At least that was how he viewed it, and he knew that Akane hated to have anything rubbed in her face. This time was different though, Akane did not seem to fall for the loaded jab at her pride. Instead she frowned at her sister and shook her head.
"So you think this is Ranma?" Akane asked, "You may be right, I actually just came here to say hi."
Nabiki folded her arms over her chest and seemed to consider this news, "I see, well considering it has been a long time, I could see why you want to. However, I am far from happy with seeing you after how you acted all those years ago. And it doesn't make me want to like you any more after the way you waited a whole month before you got engaged to Ryouga."
Akane looked a little taken back by this and Ranma looked at her in surprise, "Uh, I could be wrong but this might have been a bad idea," he iterated.
Akane frowned, "Shut up, Ranma. I was hoping you would forgive me, Nabiki. I thought it was just a small thing, getting engaged to Ryouga. I know you were against it but I was young and didn't know any better. I'm sorry, I really am."
The older sister sighed and put a hand to her face as she closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth in exasperation, "Look, I'm tired and hungry, come by later. Maybe I can discuss this better then."
Akane sighed and looked at her sister solemnly, "Nabiki... I really am sorry."
"Just go," was all the woman said, "Now is not the time."
Akane nodded and slowly walked back to her squad car and drove off down the road. Nabiki watched her go and closed the door to face Ranma, who was looking a little confused and out of his element. She looked at him in a way that said that he should wait until after dinner to ask any questions about what had just happened. That being the case, he followed behind her as she made her way to the dining room where Hitomi was waiting for them. She had gotten a little bored with waiting for them and started to pick at her food, which was why she looked guilty as they came into the room and a little of her food was already missing.
Nabiki just shook her head, "It's okay, daughter, and I understand that you were hungry."
Ranma sat down next to the girl and picked up his eating utensils, "Ah, real food. I was afraid all you had was that instant ramen."
"Saotome," He paused and looked at her like a deer in the headlights, it was never good when she used only his last name, "It would be wise of you to not comment on such things again."
"Uh, alright," he said before he continued eating.
If there was one thing that had definitely not changed about him it was the fact that he was still a human vacuum cleaner when in came to food. Though he ate a bit slower than usual it was still in a manner that bypassed most of the chewing and went to swallowing much faster than it should. Nabiki wondered how he had gotten away with this for so long without choking on his food. There had to be some secret to it, but she was sure that Ranma was not even aware that he did it and therefore he could not tell her what that secret was. She had seen him eat normal a very few times but judging by the way he was eating now it was not going to be soon that she saw that again. By the time he finished off his food she was barely halfway through her own.
She had to admit that she was not, in fact, very hungry and it was not long before she decided to wrap the rest of her food up and put it in the fridge for the coming day. Hitomi finished her food before she excused herself and went upstairs to her bed in order to get ready for bed. Ranma smiled at her as she did so and decided he would at least do the dishes, helping around the house was the very least he could do for this small family that was trying to help him find his memory again. It was hard for them to do so in between their jobs but it seemed to be coming along well. Nabiki came up behind him and he turned to ask her a question before he noticed that she was staring wide-eyed at him.
"Huh," he said, "Did I grow a second head?"
Nabiki shook her head, "Ranma, what happened to your back?"
He seemed to remember something and felt a little stupid, "Oh, I kind of rescued this girl from the top of a building as a bomb went off. I lost that shirt you gave me too. Sorry."
"I see," the woman said, "I guess that explains why you came home shirtless, with a bandage wrapped around you, and with a police officer."
"She is your sister, Nabiki," Ranma said seriously, "It's okay for you to call her as such."
The woman looked angered by this, "If you had any idea what she did to this family after you left... I mean she practically told us that we were all idiots and that she was getting married to Ryouga. This was only a month after you left."
Ranma nodded, "I understand but that does not change the fact that she is family. You have to forgive her some time."
Nabiki looked at him harshly, "You have no room to talk, Saotome, the way you just left without a word. It practically crippled daddy even more and then there was your mother. She wanted to hunt you down and drag you back, when we explained that this wouldn't work she turned on us and accused us of driving you out."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Uh, I hate to say this, but you kind of did."
This seemed to throw the woman off and she stared at him hollowly, "Ranma..."
"Look, the past is the past," The man said quickly before he continued, "I'm glad that you all at least moved on... Mostly."
The brown haired woman turned away from him, "You sure are good at making people feel bad, Saotome. I think I'll go to bed now."
"Nabiki..." Ranma went to grab her but she shrugged his hand off, "Wait, what did I do? Damn it, why does this always happen to me," he mumbled the last part to himself.
Sighing he walked over to the couch and collapsed in a heap, this had been a day of emotional overload and he just wanted it to end. Closing his eyes he idly hoped that tomorrow turned out better than this day had been. He woke up a bit later as he rolled off the couch with a thud and with a look of irritation, grabbed a pillow and decided the floor would have to be good enough.
He woke to the sound of pattering drops of rain on the roof and the pain of sleeping on a hard floor all night. Sitting up with a grunt he slowly got to his feet and walked to the kitchen to find breakfast laying out on the table. There was a note that said that Nabiki had been early enough to take Hitomi to school so he had the day to himself. Ranma wondered idly where it was that Nabiki actually worked, from the way she described it, it was a stuffy office building.
If there was a card or address laying around he could go visit her at work and maybe try and do something to make up with her. He had to admit that he had been a little too blunt last night. Unfortunately he could find nothing to indicate where she worked.
Shrugging he slipped on a t-shirt, walked outside and decided that he would take a walk and try to familiarize himself with the place he lived. It would not be good to have someone attack him and trap him in a dead end. He walked along and made a mental map of the alleys and back streets he might be able to take if worse came to worse. It was about noon by the time he finished and he was getting hungry so he walked into a restaurant to get something to eat. A bell sounded and female voice came from the back of the restaurant that told him he would be served in a minute. Ranma looked at the décor and was surprised that the scenery of the place seemed to come with a flash of memory. He had a feeling something awkward was about to happen and he was going to be the center of it.
The owner of the voice and the restaurant, evidently, made her presence known by the fact that once she spotted him she dropped the plates she was carrying. He turned towards the noise and saw a woman with long brown hair held back by a white ribbon and carrying a huge spatula on her back. She wore a chef outfit with a bandolier of smaller spatulas. She had brown eyes and she was a little shorter than he was with a cute face and a slender figure. She was actually a little shorter than Nabiki, who was no slouch in the figure department herself.
"Ran-chan," The woman said in a surprised voice, "What are you doing here?"
"What did you call me?" The man said in astonishment, "You must be mistaking me for someone else."
The woman looked at him oddly, "No, you're the only one I know that would wear clothes like that and have their hair in that style. Then there is your eyes and the build of your body... what?"
Ranma had been staring at her and when he realized what he had been doing he sighed and shook his head a bit, "No, it's nothing, just that you are a very strange person."
"... What?"
"Well, it's just that, you know," Ranma seemed to stumble over his own words as he looked hesitantly at the giant spatula the woman's grip had moved and tightened around, "It's not like I know you or anything... do I? Damn this amnesia!"
The woman shook her head while holding a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes, "Only you, Ran-chan, only you," the woman muttered.
"Would you please tell me what this is about, stop acting like a weirdo and tell me what you're talking about," The man yelled as he began to get impatient.
"My name is Ukyo Kuonji," the girl said, "I've known you since childhood."
Ranma sighed and shrugged, "And I have no idea if you're telling the truth. You may be a friend, I really can't remember. I need something to eat if it's not too much trouble."
"One special coming up," the woman said.
Sighing, Ranma watched the woman work over the girl and felt rather bad about treating her as he was. It was not as if he could help his actions, he just had to make sure she was not trying to take advantage of his situation. He had no idea how many people knew about his condition or if those people that did were dangerous in any way. The cold distantness of his words was just his means of keeping people away from him that he was not sure he could trust. Which brought up the subject of Nabiki, he trusted her but there was no reason for the trust that he could make out. He just felt comfortable around her and she seemed to feel the same way around him. It was like that from the beginning, there was no coldness in his voice when they first met. He trusted her, and not this woman who was cooking his food. It could be something in his subconscious that caused this reaction, something from long ago that he had lost completely.
"Here you are," the woman said as her words broke him out of his thoughts.
Looking at the food in front of him, he smiled. Okonomiyaki, it meant "as you like it" and was commonly called Japanese pizza even though it really had nothing to do with our view of such a food except that it was flat. The main reason it earned its name was the fact that you could have raw fish on it if you were so inclined. The special was something that Ranma was guaranteed to like because it was what he commonly ordered at places like this. It was different every time but every time he had order the special it had been good. At least that was what the memories that flooded his brain told him as he took his first bite of the food. He staggered a bit and blinked as the flash of memories died down. He still remembered them but not in the same chaotic flow that he had experienced at first.
"Weird, I remember your food better than you," the man said as he finished chewing and looked up at her.
Ukyo nodded, "Definitely the same Ran-chan I used to know."
The man laughed slightly and grinned, "Don't take it the wrong way. You should be lucky that I remember that much," he stopped and looked a little sad suddenly, "I visited the old place I used to live and found it in shambles. How long have I been gone and what happened since then?"
"The most I can tell you is that it was attacked after you left, I was too late to be of any real hope so I used some of the money I made from the restaurant to help them move," Ukyo looked at him resignedly, "After all that happened they really had no choice. The Dojo was beyond repair."
Ranma sighed and frowned, "I see, well, I'm done. Here's the money for the food. Be seeing you, Ukyo."
The woman smiled and nodded, "Alright, and just call me U-chan, for old time sake."
"For old time sake, U-chan," Ranma said with a grin, "See ya."
When the man exited the restaurant he realized that the day had turned slightly cold and it was slightly darker. He had not realized that he had spent so much time in the restaurant just talking to that woman. It was time to head back home and he was sure if he were late that Nabiki would have a fit. It really was irritating having his memory taken from him. It was a pain to people other than himself, he was not oblivious to that big fact. Everyone he met seemed to recognize him and yet he had no feeling of recognition towards anyone. It was like being a stranger in your own home, your mother said hello and the most you could manage was an awkward look of confusion.
"Ranma," he turned to see someone behind him, half cloaked in shadow, "You should use more caution when staging your own death."
The man blinked, "Huh?"
"You want to play dumb with me?" It was a man's voice, cool and level, "Blowing up the factory may have been a way to cover your tracks but walking around in broad daylight just days afterwards is not all that smart."
Ranma let out a sound of irritation, "Buddy, I have enough problems, I don't need to be hassled by some third rate samurai wannabe trying to accuse me of something I have no idea about. I'll say this once, I have amnesia. I don't remember a thing about my life other than I woke up in a hospital."
"You think me stupid," the man drew a sword that was hanging at his side and held it aloft.
"I have to get home, you wouldn't by chance allow me to just take a rain check?" Ranma grinned hopefully.
"I'm not in the mood for games," the man replied.
Ranma shrugged, "I thought not."
The swordsman looked intently at his opponent as the two of them squared off against one another. Ranma did not seem to take any kind of stance but instead yawned and placed his hands behind his back. The swordsman was not fooled by this tactic, it was used to throw a person off balance and make getting the upper hand easy. It left a person totally open, this much was true, but if the person was able to dodge every blow that mattered little. It galled the man with the sword that his opponent would use such a base technique on him. Ranma did not even know how skilled the swordsman was and yet he acted as if this was of no consequence. As long as he stayed calm this technique was useless, he would not let such a technique throw off his concentration.
"I would advise you to drop this," Ranma said suddenly, "you are still young."
"I'm not much younger than you," The man rushed forward suddenly.
The sword passed inches from Ranma's face as he leaned back slightly to avoid the downward slice. Another slice followed this up horizontally at about mid-level and Ranma leaned back at a ninety degree angle so the blade passed harmlessly above him. This left him wide open, or it would have if he were a common amateur. Being used to being in these situations, or at least he thought he was probably used to them, he used the position to rock back onto his hands and do a handspring into the air. The swordsman followed him and made to slash at him as he landed, only to find that he was not there. Instead, Ranma had used a nearby tree to change his path and was now squatting on top of the swordsman's head.
"I hope you learned a lesson," The man said.
The swordsman sneered and tried to adjust his grip to stab at the man on top of his head, "Die!"
Ranma's eyes went wide and he bounced off the man's head to land safely in front of him. Running forward, he aimed at a point just past where the man was standing, giving the illusion that he had misjudged an attack. With a smile the swordsman swung in the martial artist's direction thinking that he had won. Only to feel pain in his stomach as Ranma's knee made contact, followed by an elbow to the back and before he could recover from that, the man was swept of his feet and left laying dazed on his back. To his credit he was good enough to know not to let go of his sword during any point of this.
"That was probably not too fun for you," Ranma said as he stood above the swordsman, "You are good, however you need to practice. Just so you know, I wasn't trying. Here."
The swordsman looked up at the hand that his opponent offered with confusion, "What?"
Ranma sighed, "Look, I'm not going to hold a grudge against some misguided soldier that was doing as he was told. Take my hand, then go back and tell whoever you work for what happened. And make sure you tell them that I have amnesia."
The swordsman took the hand and frowned, "I was told you were good, I have to admit that I underestimated you."
"A common mistake of the prideful," Ranma exclaimed as he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked off, "I've made it more than a few times. Just try to get better and I'm sure you'll be more than good enough to fight me soon. Then again, I am the best so probably not."
The swordsman frowned at the departing man and as Ranma walked out of site he grinned slightly and shook his head, "I think that was a compliment. Obviously he's not so good at giving them."
Ranma was feeling good about himself until he realized that the weather had took a drastic change and he had wasted more time playing around with the sword guy than he had meant to. The female version of the cocky martial artist looked up in irritation at the dark sky. If there was one thing he had definitely not forgotten, it was that he got supremely irritated when it rained or when he was splashed with cold water. Not only had he spent too much time with that man but also he was now a female and on top of it all he was late for dinner. This did not bode well for him, not in the least.
It took about an hour before a soaking wet female with red hair entered the house. It was a little past dinner time and when she closed the door she found a brown haired woman looking at her with arms folded across her chest in irritation. Ranma smiled in that way that means you know you're in trouble and you do not know what is going to happen. The present application of this meant that Ranma knew she was a dead woman if she did anything wrong.
"Uh..."
Nabiki frowned, "I've been worried about you, hoping you would at least get back in time for dinner, thinking the worst, and all you have to say is 'uh'?"
"Well I hit a little snag on the way back," Ranma said as she tried to summon a little courage, "this guy tried to attack me. He was good, I figured I play with him a little before I defeated him. It's not my fault."
"Uh huh," Nabiki did not sound convinced, "So you stop to play around with this guy, I'm sure there's more to this, like the fact that you stopped by Ukyo's.
Not to mention that you only threw on a t-shirt and seeing that it's soaked through, it's not doing the best job of hiding your chest."
Ranma blinked, "How did you know about Ukyo, and what's the big deal about my chest?"
"I knew about Ukyo because I stop there on my way home from work from time to time, and that happened to be today," Nabiki walked up to Ranma and frowned at her, "And the big deal about your chest is that you're a female, your practically advertising that fact with the way your shirt is sticking to your tits!"
Ranma was surprised not by the fact that the shirt she was wearing was doing a good impression of being in a wet shirt contest, but by the fact that Nabiki had used such a blatantly word. It seemed a little out of character, she looked at the brown haired woman and rethought that. Maybe it was more in character for her than Ranma had originally thought.
"Okay, your angry," The redhead said in a strait forward voice, "I can understand the first two, but what's wrong with the wet shirt."
Nabiki sighed in frustration, "You are hopeless, and you have not changed in the least. I would have hoped you would learn some feminine modesty by now."
"I'm not a female," Ranma pointed out, "Well most of the time anyways."
The woman threw her hands up and turned to walk away from him, "You're hopeless!"
Ranma thought on this for a second, "I may be."
There was a long moment of silence before Ranma silently moved to get some hot water before sitting down at the table in the dinning room and sat down. The food was probably cold by now, in fact it was an undeniable fact that he could tell just by looking at it. That did not matter, he was hungry enough that even cold food was good enough to eat. He dumped the hot water over himself. The strange thing was that the food was okonomiyaki, that could have been why Nabiki had been irritated at him. She had stopped by there earlier and picked him up what used to be his favorite food. Being that he already ate it, she had assumed that he would not want the food that she had bought.
"Nabiki," Ranma said as he paused after swallowing some food, "I'm sorry."
She looked at Ranma in surprise from across the room where she had been about to make her way upstairs. The woman had assumed that the fight they had was his way of saying that he did not want to talk to her. That was the farthest thing from the truth really, he had known that Nabiki would be angry and had accepted that.
It was not that he did not want to talk to the woman, it was that he had thought that she did not want to talk to him.
"Yeah," Nabiki said neutrally, her voice calm, "You had better be."
He shook His head, "Now I know I'm in trouble, you only use that voice on people you're looking to take advantage of. Either that or you're trying to calculate what my intentions are."
The woman let a moment of surprise flash across her face, "You're not as dumb as I thought."
"Is this because of what I said last night?" Ranma asked suddenly, "Because if it is I... well... what can I really say?"
Nabiki looked at him before she turned around and walked upstairs, not any faster than normal, but there was an air of heaviness about her steps. Ranma grit his teeth and let his head hit the table in frustration, why could he not think of something to say. It was not as if he did not know the words, it was that all the words that came to mind were corny and self-righteous. He cursed himself for this being the time that he failed to say something, even if it was the wrong thing he needed to say something to stop her from getting irritated and walking off. He did not want to lose this battle, he would not lose this battle.
"It's not about last night, not totally," Nabiki glared at him, "it's about everything you have done to me and my family. My sister loved, you were like the son my daddy never had, and you were practically Kasumi's little brother. And you have the nerve to just leave."
Something itched at the back of Ranma's brain, "Okay, then what about you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Nabiki frowned at him.
"I mean, what was I to you," Ranma was serious, "Was I a wallet, a thing that produced money or was there something else, because if there was you have hid it damn well."
"Are you two fighting?" A small voice suddenly asked from the side, "I don't like when people fight."
The two adults turned to see a small girl standing in her pajamas and holding a stuffed teddy bear, her hair was messed and she had a scared look on her face that neither of the adults had seen before. Ranma looked like he wanted to disappear from the house right there and then and Nabiki was horrified. The both struggled with their own feeling and the atmosphere of the room as the argument came to a sudden halt.
"Hitomi," Ranma said lightly, "when did you get up, I thought you were asleep."
The little girl blinked and looked unsure of what to say, shyly she replied, "You woke me up, you are so loud."
Ranma did not think he was being loud but nonetheless felt compelled to apologize, "I'm sorry, Hitomi, I'll be on my way."
"Where are you going," The little girl asked.
The man smiled and gave her a thumb up, "Somewhere safe," in his mind he was thinking, somewhere I will not cause a problem.
"You're leaving again," Nabiki said quietly.
Ranma turned and nodded, "You can't say I didn't say goodbye this time."
With those words he turned and walked out the door and into the cool of the night. It was not completely dark as streetlights lit the night and the stars and moon were bright in the sky. The man looked up at the night sky and somehow felt the power to smile at the sight. It was not a content smile but rather a lonely smile, one that knew its owner was not really happy.
"I guess I had better get going, before I cause too much pain," Ranma said to nobody in particular as he started walking.
He found his progress halted suddenly by two slender arms engulfing his waist from behind him. Looking down in surprise at the hands he wondered why he had not sensed an attack, after a while he realized that whoever it was that had taken hold of him was not actually trying to attack. He was not sure what he should do so he just stood there and waited for the other person to make the next move. That was when he felt the person lean into his back and whisper something barely audible.
"You were not just a wallet to me," The voice was so soft he thought it was the wind at first.
"Huh?"
Turning he saw Nabiki standing across from him and holding back her tears, "I said you were more than just someone I took money from, you were one of the few people I could count on. It started as just friendship, but somehow it turned into something more, without me wanting it to. I tried to suppress it because I knew my sister was in love with you."
Ranma did not know what to say, this woman had always been an ice queen to him, she never showed emotion towards him, "I... Nabiki, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get you to stay," she was almost yelling at him now, "Because if you left me now I could not take it. I did take you for granted when we were young and I swore that I would never let it happen again. For months I thought you would come back. But you didn't. Now you're back again and I find myself falling into old habits, thinking that you will be there no matter what I do."
Ranma chuckled, "I never cease to be surprised by you, Miss Tendo."
"What are you saying?" The look of betrayal was clear in her eyes, "Why are you so formal?"
The man loosed himself from her grip and sighed, "You're wrong, you did not fall into old habits. This is entirely new and so out of character for you, the Nabiki Tendo I know is strong and tenacious. She is not a weak little girl that breaks at the thought of someone leaving. You are not the same girl I knew."
The woman looked struck before she wiped her eyes and stared at him with anger this time, "What are you talking about, how many times do you expect me to lose someone I care about before I break down? If it wasn't for the fact that I love you I would destroy you right now!"
The man let out a laugh and shook his head, "I see, so the real you is not completely gone. And it seems the real me has yet to fade also, you're very scary when you want to be."
With those words he grabbed her with both arms and looked in her eyes, and the need for any words disappeared as he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. The initial surprise on the woman's face was replaced by acceptance as she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the feeling of the kiss she felt herself return it with just as much enthusiasm as he was giving her. When they finally stopped for air the two of them just looked at each other as if they could not believe what was happening.
"You know, now would be the time that something terrible is going to happen," Ranma said quietly.
Nabiki smiled, "Knowing you, I would expect no less."
"Ranma!" A voice yelled on cue, "I will not let you hurt Akane's sister!"
Ranma blew out a breath of exasperation and kicked the charging Ryouga in the face, "Good to see you too, man."
As the foot was removed from his face, Ryouga yelled back, "Don't play dumb with me, I know exactly who you are and what you plan on doing."
"That's nice, care to tell me so I can know," Ranma shook his head and dodged a punch from the man that was attacking him, "I mean, I'm the one with amnesia here."
Ryouga aimed a kick at the man's head that passed harmlessly, "A man came to me and told me that you work for a secret corporation intent on taking over the world and there are multiple clones that you agreed to help them make. They look exactly like you. Or maybe you are one of them."
The man had to restrain himself from laughing as much as possible as he fought to keep his attention on the fight and not the ludicrous explanation, "Are you serious, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You just believed his word on this?"
Ryouga paused for a second and sneered, "You know, somehow I thought you wouldn't believe me. I didn't believe him at first either. Then I saw this tape that he gave to me and that's all the proof I need."
"You have a tape?" Ranma asked as he grew excited, "Let me see it!"
"You can have it after I beat you to an inch of your life," Ryouga exclaimed as he leapt at Ranma once again.
Ranma dodged the kick that was aimed at his midsection before he leapt up and flipped over Ryouga. The man turned and tried to punch Ranma on his way down but could not connect as Ranma was not there. The man blinked before he felt a tap on his shoulder and a tape was presented before his face as if someone was standing on his head.
I hate when you do that," Ryouga said levelly, "Fine, take the tape but just know that I will not be so easy on you next time. I will not allow you to take over the world."
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That's all you get for Chapter Two, a bit shorter but I felt it necessary to end it there. You'll find out about the tape next chapter. By the way, someone please point out if I start making Ranma into some demigod. I would like to avoid that pitfall that seems to happen in a lot of other stories. Other than that, have fun reading the story.