TRIGGER WARNING; SUGGESTIONS OF RAPE
Two months after Ranma left
Ranma couldn't believe how stupid Ryoga could be sometimes. He'd hardly been stealthy about it, so Ranma knew he had been following him ever since he left the Tendo dojo. He cursed silently under his breath, slipping into an alley and holding his breath as Ryoga passed by, looking around in confusion before moving on, still looking for Ranma, who he had sworn was just in front of him. 'Seriously, this is gettin' ridiculous,' Ranma thought to himself, letting out a small, frustrated sigh. 'I need a disguise or somethin', my chinese clothes are too easy to spot.' He grit his teeth and poked his head out of the alley, making sure the coast was clear before stepping out and suddenly bumping into someone, who made a loud "Oof!" and fell backwards, landing on their rear.
"Oh geez, sorry 'bout that!" Ranma grimaced, offering a hand to the boy that he had knocked over. He looked up while rubbing his head, taking Ranma's hand and letting out a startled gasp as the boy easily lifted him, as if he weighed nothing. "Huh, thank you. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going." He dusted off his robe, straightening it as he offered his hand to Ranma. "Name's Sai Matsuo. Sorry about this." Ranma grinned and shook Sai's hand, looking the boy up and down. "Ranma Saotome. An' it was all my fault, I shouldn'ta popped outta the alley like that." The boys grinned at each other sheepishly, and Ranma examined Sai a little more closely. He was taller than Ranma by a couple of inches, and he wasn't quite as muscular, but… "Yo, Sai was it? Ya know, if you really wanna apologize for this, I like your robe…" Ranma gave the boy a grin and pulled him into the alley.
Twenty minutes later and a hastily retold and edited backstory later, Ranma and Sai walked out of the alley, now wearing each other's clothes. Sai was adjusting his bracers and Ranma was pulling the hood of his robe over his dark hair. "Man, I feel for you. Having someone tracking you to the ends of the earth over a mistake like kicking him into a little pond?" Sai grumbled good naturedly, giving Ranma a sympathetic smile. "Y-yeah, something like that." Ranma spoke under his breath, turning towards Sai. "Listen, Ryoga's not a bad guy. If he sees you straight on, he'll probably yell 'RANMA SAOTOME, PREPARE TO DIE!', but when he sees you don't look like me, he'll back off." Ranma explained quickly, looking around and keeping his eyes shielded under his hood. "Hey, no problem," Sai placed a hand on Ranma's tense shoulder. "At least I can lead him away from you, at least a little ways." Ranma nodded and held out his fist. "I'll pay you back some day Sai, you have my word, on my honor." Sai looked down and smiled, bumping Ranma's fist with his own. "I'd better get going, if I want to lead this guy away." Sai looked around and started walking back the way he came, whistling to himself as Ranma took to walking the opposite way.
"Wait, so that wasn't..?" Ryoga's eyes widened and he looked shocked. Ranko blinked as Ryoga interrupted her, and she quirked her brow at him curiously. "What? What did you say?" Ranko asked him. Ryoga groaned and slapped his forehead hard. "Ranma, all this time, I thought I was following you… For the last three years I was following that guy? Sai was it?" Ranko blushed slightly, much to Ryoga's confusion. "You were following me all that time?" Ranko asked him incredulously. "Of course I was! You ran out on Akane, and the Tendos, and me!" Ryoga growled, pointing accusingly at her while Hisako whimpered in Ranko's arms.
She glared at him nervously, but set her jaw and pointed right back at him. "I told you all, I was done with Nerima. With you, and the fiancés, my father, everything! I wasn't happy there Ryoga!" She snapped at him. Ryoga growled, but sat back again and took a couple deep, calming breaths. "Fine. So you weren't happy." He bit out carefully, his eyes narrowed at Ranko. "Then what happened?" Ranko watched him for a moment to make sure he wasn't planning on attacking her, then calmly resumed her story.
Three and a half months after Ranma left
Ranma groaned as she practically dragged herself into a nearby café, her feet cut and bleeding and she shivered violently as she forced the door shut behind her, the bitter cold winds gnashing at her pale, pink cheeks and nose as she finally shut the door and fell to the floor in relief. "F-f-finally… A-at least I ain't g-g-gonna die in the s-s-s-s-snow…" Ranma fell unconscious as she heard a woman scream behind her.
Ranma sighed to herself. This was death? It wasn't anything like what she had been expecting. Sure, it was dark and she couldn't feel anything. But it was warm instead of cold, and she smelled something in the air. Was death supposed to smell… Good? She sniffed and her eyes screwed up as she tried to identify the smell. 'It smells like… I'm not sure. Soup?' She thought to herself. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her cheek, and she subconsciously leaned into the warm touch. A small gasp tickled her ear, and she heard a woman say "Haruhi! She's awake! Thank the gods!" Now Ranma was really confused. At first, she had thought that it was Kasumi holding her, but who was Haruhi? "Thank Kami! Here Mikazuki, give her this, she desperately needs fluids. See if she'll drink it." Ranma felt the edge of warm porcelain nudge her lips, and she willed her mouth to open, but found that she couldn't really control herself. Like she was in a cutscene in a video game. She slammed her fingers against the controls, but all she could manage was a weak groan.
"Come on dear, it's broth, please drink it..?" The woman, (Mikazuki was it?), pleaded softly with Ranma, and Ranma felt nervous at the scared tone in her caretaker's voice. 'Come on body, you're freaking 'em out! DRINK THE DAMNED BROTH!' Ranma screamed into the void of her own head, and to her and Mikazuki's surprise and relief, her lips opened slightly, trembling and weak, but still enough for some of the hot broth to slip into her mouth, where her body could swallow it reflexively. "Good girl, just a little more, come on now…" Her voice sounded relieved, but still strained as she tipped more into Ranma's mouth. "Mika, slow down a little. Poor thing, she's thinner than paper..!" The other woman, what was her name? Hara, Humi… No, Haruhi! Haruhi gently instructed Mikazuki, who let Ranma swallow the second mouthful of broth. She felt one of them gently shaking her shoulder. "Miss? Can you tell me your name?" Haruhi softly spoke into Ranma's ear, and moved until Ranma could feel her ear press against her lips. She desperately tried to force her body to respond, but it was useless. She was trapped in her own mind. Haruhi sighed sadly, moving away from Ranma and instructing Mikazuki to watch over her while she called for the doctor. She felt her hand being lifted and held by Mikazuki, and a strangely warm, fuzzy feeling started to grow in her chest. 'These people don't know who I am, but they wanna help me?' Ranma wondered in confusion.
'I hafta tell them my name, but my body ain't listenin' to me!' She growled in frustration, before she concentrated harder, focusing on her mouth, her lungs, her throat, anything that could help her speak. "R-... Ran-..." She winced at just how broken her voice sounded, as if her vocal cords had been shredded. There was a sudden weight against her as Mikazuki suddenly threw herself forwards, pressing her ear to Ranma's lips as her voice had barely been a wisp. Hell, the only reason Mikazuki knew Ranma was trying to speak was because she saw her lips twitch. "Ran-... Ranko…" Ranma blinked in shock. 'What? No, stupid body! Ranma!' She shouted into her mind. Then she remembered, she had been in her girl form for almost three weeks. 'No! Smart body!' That could save some explanations, all she had to do was pretend to be a girl for a while and maybe her caretakers wouldn't kick her out before she could heal. "Haruhi! Her name is Ranko!" Mikazuki shouted. Ranma heard Haruhi relaying the information, and figured she was on the phone with the doctor. "It's okay Ranko, you're okay. Can you hear me? Try not to say anything else, Haruhi called the doctor, he should be here soon." Mikazuki babbled, much to Ranma's amusement.
'Geez, I must've been in more trouble than I thought,' She thought to herself. Mikazuki had quieted down, content to simply fuss over Ranma, er, Ranko while she sat back and tried to force her body to respond to something. About ten minutes passed before there was a knock at the door, and Haruhi quickly let someone in. Ranko guessed it was the doctor, and was rewarded with the sudden chill of a stethoscope pressed against her chest. The doctor examined her quickly but carefully, listening to her breathing, her heartbeat, and slipped a thermometer under her tongue while he carefully examined the rest of her body, much to Ranko's chagrin. "She looks to be in a state of mild hypothermic shock. Her feet have been shredded by what appears to be glass and rocks, though they have been excellently cleaned and wrapped. I'm hesitant about the hot water bottle, but I'm glad you kept it far enough to warm her but not shock her nerves." He spoke gently and carefully examined Ranko's hands. "Yes, you two have started to warm her nicely. She's dangerously malnourished though… Has she been receptive to fluids or food of any kind?" He asked the two women who had been taking care of Ranko while Ranko listened in amazement.
"Yes and no Doctor Condo, she's only been responsive the last twenty minutes or so. I made her some broth, and she drank a little, but I didn't want to give her too much too fast." Haruhi spoke up, and Ranko felt Mikazuki's hand on her cheek again. "Good, very good. Excellent work ladies." The doctor sounded relieved. "Can you two help me disrobe her? I'd like to give her a full check, see if there's anything else I might miss." If Ranko could blush and protest right now, she would. As it was she was screaming all kinds of colourful profanities into her mind as she felt three sets of hands carefully removing her robes, and a muffled, distressed shriek as her robe was opened. She immediately felt two hands, probably the doctor's, suddenly but carefully pressing against her nether region, and she released a whole new brand of swears into her mind, until she heard the shocked voice of Mikazuki rattle her from her thoughts. "Doctor, has she been..? My gods, the blood…" She sounded faint, and Ranko panicked slightly. She had started bleeding a couple of days ago, and had her own little panic attack. She didn't have a way to stop the bleeding though, and had ended up stuffing her boxers… Up there…
"Th-those are boy's underwear, aren't they..?" Haruhi sounded strained, even murderous. Almost like Akane sounded. The doctor had been silent, but Ranko felt his fingers relax slightly. "There's no bruising, no signs of… Other fluids, so no, I don't think she's been, that. It looks like she's been on the road, she probably ran out of feminine hygiene products and had to use something." The doctor grumbled slightly, gently tugging on the boxers, but the matted blood had stuck the boxers in place. "Ladies, could you give her a warm soak in the furo? I'm afraid this could be infected." Ranko was reeling. Other fluids? What other fluids?! Something other than blood could come out of there?! What the hell did he mean, feminine products?! And then… 'No! No hot water! I'll change, they'll kill me!' Ranko thought, her mind swirling with panicked thoughts as she tried to force her body to move. Her body suddenly jerked painfully, her aching joints sending blaring pain into her mind and Ranko fainted again as the two women and doctor suddenly started fussing over her again.