Dr. Tofu, with Ranma following just behind, came back into the medical room. Ranma did not look like he was feeling very well at all. His complexion was very pale, he was clutching his stomach, and it looked as though walking was a great task for him. He sat down in a chair uneasily. An expression of concern appeared on Akane's face, "Wow, Ranma. You don't look so good. What happened to you?"
"I don't know, Akane. I just don't know. One moment I was at the Cat Café, minding my own business. Just wanting something to eat. Then, Mousse serves me this dish of ramen and boy, it tasted delicious...," Ranma started.
Akane stared at Ranma, "You ate something Mousse gave you?"
"Hey! It looked okay, smelled great, and tasted like the best thing I've ever eaten before. I figured it was safe since Mousse was serving it in front of everybody else. I didn't start feeling bad until I was a few roads down from the restaurant," Ranma explained.
He suddenly looked very sick, "Excuse me."
Ranma ran out of the medical room, heading straight for the bathroom. Again, the sounds of vomiting were heard. Dr. Tofu shook his head, "Well, something he ate contained a poison, anyway. Its not a lethal poison, but the poison he took is poisonous enough to keep him weak and sick for a few months, at least. Its not incurable, but he downright refuses to swallow down the cure."
Yusuke looked on, not in the least bit interested.
"That idiot. Why won't he take the cure?" Akane growled.
"Well, it's probably the worst tasting thing in the world. It doesn't look so good and it smells pretty bad, too," Dr. Tofu said.
Akane sweatdropped, "It can't be that bad."
"Oh, it is. But it works miracles as an antidote for certain poisons like the one Ranma has in his system," Dr. Tofu assured.
Ranma came back in the medical room and sat down, "Uggghhhh..."
"Ranma, you dummy! Why don't you take the cure?" Akane demanded.
"Oh, Akane! You don't understand! That stuff smells horrible! I'm willing to bet it tastes horrible, too. There's no way I'm eating it. No way!" Ranma exclaimed.
He spotted Yusuke and blinked. He turned to Akane and pointed at him, "Who is that, Akane?"
Akane started to say something. Yusuke interrupted her, "My name is Yusuke Urameshi. And if you don't quit pointing at me, I'm going to break your finger."
Ranma was taken aback, but he recovered from the little introduction and glared at Yusuke, "What's your problem?"
"None of your business," Yusuke scowled.
Ranma narrowed his eyes and for the first time, noticed Akane's injuries. He immediately jumped to conclusions, "You hurt Akane..."
Yusuke shrugged nonchalantly, "I did."
"Nobody hurts Akane and gets away with it!" Ranma growled.
He started to charge at Yusuke. Yusuke was smirking. Akane was already making a move to slap Ranma upside the head. However, none of them fulfilled their actions because Dr. Tofu stepped in. He did not look happy, "I don't want any fighting in my clinic."
Ranma and Akane looked a bit surprised, but they immediately stopped what they were doing. Yusuke shrugged his shoulders and sat down. Ranma was still glaring at him.
"Don't be stupid, Ranma. Yusuke and I were just having a sparring match. Unlike you, he isn't afraid to hit girls," Akane told him.
"So, what? Is he some new boyfriend, now?" Ranma grumbled.
Yusuke was the one glaring at Ranma, now. There was someone he already cared about in that way and it definitely wasn't his half-sister. Akane shook her head, "You, idiot! He's my younger half-brother!"
Ranma blinked, "Younger... half-brother?"
"Yes. The DNA results prove it. My dad is his dad. You better get used to him, Ranma. You're going to be sharing a room with him," Akane informed.
"Wh-what? Share a room with him? But... the room is so small! Akane, look at my old man! He practically takes up the entire room himself!" Ranma spluttered.
"There is plenty of room, Ranma. Quit being a baby. And take that cure! You're starting to look green!" Akane scolded.
Yusuke glanced at them back and forth as they argued. He thought to himself, 'Well, no wonder they're fiances. They already act like a married couple. Sheesh.'
"Ugh... Why'd you have to...," Ranma started, but was unable to finish.
He ran off to the bathroom. Dr. Tofu sighed, "Well, if he's not going to take the cure; he might as well go home. There isn't much I can do for him except hit a couple of pressure points that will help ease the sickness some for a little bit of time."
"Don't give up, Dr. Tofu! I'm going to make him take that cure. Where is it?" Akane declared.
"It's in the kitchen. Follow me," Dr. Tofu said.
Akane and Yusuke followed Dr. Tofu into the kitchen. He put on some noseplugs and handed some to Akane and Yusuke. Yusuke stared at the noseplugs in his hand. Akane looked at Dr. Tofu with a puzzled expression, "What are these for?"
"Just being considerate. I wasn't joking when I said that the cure smells really, really bad," Dr. Tofu laughed.
"It can't be that bad," Akane insisted.
"We'll see," Dr. Tofu stated.
He went to the stove and removed the lid on a blue pot. There was a faint smell spreading through the air like a disease. Akane felt like gagging and while Yusuke tried not to let it phase him, he could feel his stomach lurch. They both put on the noseplugs.
"And that was with the plastic wrapping," Dr. Tofu told them.
"Gee," Akane awed.
"How in the world is that suppose to make someone feel better?" Yusuke grumbled.
"Well, I wouldn't recommend eating this unless you had been poisoned by one of the five poisons that this soup cures. Don't worry, it's proven to cure the poisons. Once Ranma eats this, he'll be feeling like his old self again," Dr. Tofu explained.
'Uh-huh. Whatever you say, doc,' Yusuke thought.
Ranma stumbled into the kitchen, "Man, I was wondering where you guys went."
"Time to take your medicine, Ranma!" Akane exclaimed.
Ranma's eyes widened, "N-no! Never!"
Dr. Tofu handed Akane a spoon and the pot, which was warm, but not hot. Ranma started to take off running, but bumped into Yusuke who was blocking one of the exits out of the kitchen. He glared at Ranma and pushed him to Akane. Akane quickly moved Ranma to a chair and began spoon-feeding him. Ranma's eyes teared up as he accidentally swallowed some of the soup, "Gugh... bleh... bluh..."
It was no trial to keep him sitting there. Ranma was too much in shock from the foul taste of the soup. Akane continued to force feed him, "It's for your own good, Ranma."
"Guuggghhh," was all Ranma could say.
Yusuke couldn't help himself. He started laughing uncontrollably. He would've added some insults, but he was too busy laughing at Ranma to make a good one. Ranma slumped in the chair with his mouth hanging open. Akane blinked and stopped feeding him, "Uh... Dr. Tofu..."
Dr. Tofu smiled, "Don't worry, Akane. One of the side-effects of taking the cure is being knocked out after ingesting it. He'll come to in an hour or so."
"And then he'll be better, right?" Akane asked.
"As good as new," Dr. Tofu reassured her.
"Well, what do we do with him until, then?" Akane wondered.
"Well, he could stay here with me, but I think it'd be best if you took him home," Dr. Tofu responded.
Truthfully, he didn't want Ranma really staying in his clinic where one of his "enemies" or "fiances" would burst in, do some damage, and then make off with his unconscious patient. Of course, Ranma was always welcomed to hang around, but while he was unconscious, Dr. Tofu just wasn't sure it was such a good idea.
"Well, guess we'll take him home, then," Akane said.
She got a glass out of the cabinet and turned to Dr. Tofu, "You don't mind if I get a glass of water?"
"Don't be silly. Of course, I don't mind," Dr. Tofu laughed, and walked out of the room to attend to other things.
She turned on the cold water and walked over to Ranma. Yusuke looked at Akane curiously, "What are you going to do with that? I don't think he's going to wake up if you splash him. I could carry him..."
He didn't really like the idea of carrying another guy, but he didn't see how else they would get Ranma home otherwise if Akane couldn't carry him.
"Oh. I can carry him. I just don't want to ruin his 'macho reputation'," Akane grumbled.
Yusuke blinked, "What do you mean?"
Akane shrugged, "Well, since you're going to be living with us from now on, there's no avoiding it. You would have found out sooner or later, so why not make it sooner than later?"
"I have no idea what you're..." Yusuke started, but then Akane splashed Ranma with the glass of cold water.
Yusuke took a step back in surprise. Ranma, who he could've sworn had been a guy earlier, was a... a...
Girl.
Yusuke's eyes widened as he stared at Ranma, "What... When... What's going on? Guys don't just turn into girls when they get wet!!!"
"Ranma does. I'll tell you the whole story on the way home," Akane told him.
She picked up the girl-type Ranma and Yusuke followed her as he listened to the peculiar story of Ranma's curse...
Meanwhile, in Yusuke's home city, Kuwabara had not moved from the spot he was sitting on in his house. Shizuru had tried several times earlier when it was lunch time to get him to eat, but Kuwabara hadn't even so much as looked at her. This was unusual behavior because Kuwabara wasn't one to just skip out on lunch. Shizuru tried another approach, her usual approach, "All right, Kazuma. I'm tired of playing Miss Nice Girl. Either you get your butt up off the floor and eat your lunch right now or I'm going to beat you into the ground!"
Kuwabara didn't budge. Shizuru's fists clenched and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "KAZUMA! LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! Rrrrrrr!"
Kuwabara didn't even cringe. Shizuru growled, "Fine, then! I warned you!"
She started to punch him, but something blocked her attack and shocked her just enough to make her pull her fist away. She looked at her hand and found that it was unsinged, to her relief. Then, she looked at Kuwabara closely and could see a very faint and weak barrier that surrounded him. The barrier was starting to fade. Shizuru experimentally punched it again and the barrier went back up around him to its original intensity (though, a weak intensity).
She saw that Kuwabara's face was that of someone who was concentrating very hard. When she had punched the barrier, she could see that the concentrated look on his face only became more concentrated.
'This is strange,' she thought.
Shizuru knew about every one of Kuwabara's fighting styles, techniques, and abilities. She had never once seen Kuwabara practice putting up a barrier around himself and she knew for a fact that barriers, even weak ones, were difficult to put up, especially for someone who really didn't know how to make one in the first place. Yet, here her brother was, with a small barrier shooting up to protect him while he was...
'He's meditating. I wonder why?' she thought.
Then, she remembered what he had said earlier when she had demanded that he make his bed, which he was always forgetting to make. He had said that he was trying to find Yusuke's spirit energy signature. Shizuru began to smile as she opened her senses some more and found that Kuwabara's spirit senses were reaching far out, way past the point she could sense.
'Maybe now, he'll be able to reach the full extent of his powers,' Shizuru thought.
She walked out of the room, having decided to leave her brother alone.
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(Author's Note: I am incredibly sorry, readers. Those of you who have stuck around and have read the old chapter two, may have noticed that I put Kuwabara's sister's name down as Suzuke. I didn't realize my mistake until a friend of mine read this fanfiction and pointed out that her name was Shizuru. I do, in fact, watch Yu Yu Hakusho, but because of earlier family problems and now, reruns, I must've forgotten that her name was Shizuru and not Suzuke. I hope you all forgive the mistake and I promise to be more alert next time.)