Sendai
By M. Zephyr

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.

Ranma x Akane. See the bottom of Chapter 1 for an author's note dealing with the entirety of this story.

Chapter 9. Ryoga Shows Up

Friday nights came to be unofficially considered "date night" by the four. Kasumi got out of the habit of planning communal meals for that night, while making sure there was something readily available for those who were not going to eat out. In particular, Akane and Ranma could not afford to eat out at nicer restaurants very often; instead they would usually go to a movie, or ice skating. Sometimes they would stay in and save their money for paintball battles on Sunday, a form of entertainment to which they had been introduced by a couple of their school friends. Ranma was annoyed, and Akane delighted, when she proved to be better than he at this game.

After they got back from their dates, Kasumi and Tofu would repair to the boys' room, to spend more time together. Ostensibly, they were sitting and reading together, or engaging in quiet conversation, and such activities did in fact occur. But they were also cuddling and making out, quietly so that Akane and Ranma, who were usually out in the living room, wouldn't know what they were up to. Kasumi was worried about setting a good example for her little sister.

Akane knew full well what her older sister was up to, or at least she hoped that her suspicions were correct. She was long since over her childhood crush on Dr. Tofu, and she couldn't be happier for Kasumi. On the other hand, the older couple's romance did make her feel wistful and restless at times, as her own relationship was moving a little more slowly than she might have preferred.

She and Ranma were having long conversations about their pasts, about their hopes for the future, things they liked and didn't like, and in short just getting to know one another. This was exactly what they had hoped to do. When they got home from their dates, or if they just stayed in, they would usually sit out in the living room and talk, or watch television together. There was also some kissing, which she quite enjoyed, but it never seemed like enough. If Akane had ever thought that Ranma had an ulterior motive in devising the plan to live together, she was soon disabused of the notion. To her bemusement, he was shy about showing any affection in front of Kasumi and Tofu, and sometimes when they were kissing he would decide to stop due only to the possibility that one of the others might catch them at it. Adding to her frustration, she was having dreams which made it extremely difficult for her to look at Ranma in the mornings without blushing. It completely escaped her notice that the others were all suffering similarly.

More than two months had passed since school started, and the weather was warming up nicely toward summer. One day, Akane and Ranma were standing out in the schoolyard with some friends, waiting for classes to start, having arrived early. They were talking about a physics assignment which was due the next day, when they heard a familiar voice from the direction of the school gate.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

A puzzled voice responded, "This is Masamune High School, just like the sign over there says."

As one, Ranma's and Akane's heads snapped around toward the voices and Ranma shouted out, "Ryoga?"

It was indeed Ryoga Hibiki, looking as unkempt and depressed as ever. At the sound of Ranma's ill-advised call, his head turned, and his eyes locked with Ranma's. He did not immediately spot Akane, who was partially obscured from his view by Ranma and one of her friends to whom she had been talking. Ryoga started running forward, shouting out as he did so, "Ranma Saotome! Prepare to die!"

"Oh, jeez." Ranma's head suddenly swiveled around, feeling a battle aura blazing into life beside him. "Oh, shit!"

"Ryoga Hibiki! Prepare to die!" screamed the voice beside Ranma.

Ryoga had been picking up speed, heading toward his enemy and rival when he heard this cry. He skidded to a halt, his brain trying to cope with what he was seeing, as he realized that Akane was running toward him with murder in her eyes.

"A-Akane? What have I done?"

"I'm going to CASTRATE you, P-chan!"

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," he screamed, trying to run away from the furious girl. "Akane, let me explain! It's all Ranma's fault!"

"How is it Ranma's fault, you pig-pervert! Now stand still and let me kill you!"

Ryoga leaped into a space clear of other students and, with a cry of "Shi Shi Hokodan" there was a blast of green light around him, which lifted Akane off of her feet and stunned her temporarily. The spectators quickly scattered to watch from a distance.

"Ranma!" Ryoga turned to the other boy with hatred in his expression. "You told her!"

"You couldn't expect to keep it a secret forever, Ryoga. I'd suggest that you run before she finishes getting back to her feet."

"I'm going to kill you Ranma!"

With that, Ryoga charged at Ranma, who met him head on. Their contact was like the crash of two colliding freight trains. The other students present watched in awe as the two boys fought, trading blows and kicks which struck with the force of sledgehammers. Trees shook violently as bodies slammed into them. Craters were dug into the ground. Punches and kicks knocked one another several meters through the air at a time.

Ryoga came charging once again at Ranma, but at the last moment another figure stepped in front of him. His eyes widened in shock at the nuclear fury in Akane's eyes as he tried to swerve aside, knowing that it was already far too late. A powerful kick slammed into his chest with all of the force of a wrecking ball, and Ryoga flew back over the school wall to land outside with an echoing boom. Akane quickly ran down to the school gate and then back along the wall on the outside, with Ranma close behind trying to restrain her, but by the time they arrived their opponent was no longer in sight. All that was visible was the crater where he struck the road.

"I guess he managed to get lost again before we got out here," Ranma conjectured.

"Good riddance!" spat Akane.

Ranma sighed, deciding to let his fiancée get over her temper on her own, and found himself thankful that they'd already had their workout for the day. He only hoped that no one would get on her wrong side before she settled down. Silently, they walked back into the school together to go to their first class of the day.

Without discussing it, neither Akane nor Ranma mentioned Ryoga's appearance. Akane because the entire betrayal was still too raw, and Ranma because he felt that there was little to fear from it. He figured that even if Ryoga did tell anyone else that he had seen them, he probably wouldn't remember where he had been at the time.

One evening shortly thereafter, Kasumi was looking a little depressed. It was during dinner, and she was merely pushing her food around the plate without eating it. "I wish we had some way to talk safely with father and Nabiki," she finally admitted when pressed. "I find that I miss them more than I had expected, and I would like to hear how our sister is doing at the university."

"Well, we could probably find some way to send word to them without anyone being able to trace it back here," Ranma responded contemplatively, "but I don't see how you're going to arrange for them to send word to us without anyone being able to find where it is going. You can't use one of your friends in Nerima as a go-between; she'd be threatened until she revealed where we are."

"I know Ranma, I was just wishing," Kasumi said softly. She pushed herself away from the table and picked up her still full plate to take it into the kitchen.

"Hold on a minute, I may have an idea," Akane put in. She frowned furiously down at the table as she thought for a few minutes, then looked up and nodded as if to herself. "It would probably be pretty easy to find Nabiki's email address at the university. What if we could come up with some anonymous email address of our own, that couldn't be used to trace back to our real address? Then we could communicate with Nabiki by email, and we could also send her letters to print out for the rest of the families."

Her fiancé replied as devil's advocate. "Wouldn't we have to give our real address to the people providing the email address? To send us the bill if for no other reason? Even if we didn't, we'd have to make sure not to use someplace located here in Sendai."

"Not necessarily, Ranma," Tofu said thoughtfully. "We should be able to make this work. A lot of places would want our address, but not all of them, as long as they get paid. I can pay the bill myself with a credit card, which wouldn't provide an address for anyone to trace us back here, and we should be able to find an email provider of some sort in Tokyo just by searching for it online. I don't see how anybody could find us with that setup."

Akane began to shake her head before he was finished speaking. "But it might let them find out that you're involved, which would give them additional information to help them in finding us that I'd rather they not have. We don't want the people giving us the email address to know anything about your name." Her face then brightened and she gave a cunning look toward her sister, still standing near the entrance to the kitchen, plate in hand. "On the other hand, everyone already knows that Kasumi is here with us, and she has a full-time job now, so what if she were to apply for a credit card? Then we could get the email account in her name and take it from there."

"That sounds reasonable to me," Kasumi said, much more cheerfully than before. "I'm throwing away credit card offers every other day, it seems. I believe there was one in today's mail. I'll just fish it out and send it in tomorrow."

"Okay, and I'll get on the computers at work tomorrow and see if I can find Nabiki's email address at the university, as well as an email provider of the sort that we need." Akane added enthusiastically.

"So what computer will we use for this?" Ranma wanted to know. "The computer where you work, Akane?"

"Well, we could probably use computers at the public library instead," she said with a frown, not caring for the suggestion that all communication might have to funnel through her.

"Actually, I think I have a better idea," Tofu declared. "I've been thinking for a while about purchasing a personal computer for myself. This simply provides a good excuse for doing so right away."

"Cool!" cheered Ranma. "Can we get some games to play on it, too?" Akane went to bop him on the head for impertinence, then changed her mind and seconded his suggestion.

A few days later, while checking her email between classes, Nabiki found an unexpected message waiting for her in her inbox.

Greetings, sister.

It has been a while since the last time I wrote to you, and I hope that you will find this message more pleasant than was the last. As you can see, I have obtained an email account. Feel free to share the information about this account with Father and Mr. and Mrs. Saotome, or to provide them with printouts of this and future messages. I believe that we were careful enough in setting up this account that no one will be able to discover our location through it.

I miss you little sister, and I miss knowing how things are going with you. Are you enjoying your classes at the university? What courses did you finally decide upon? Is it all that you hoped it would be?

I have to wonder how father took our defection. Was he very angry at us? After the wedding fiasco, I could see no other course of action than the one we took. Things simply could not continue on as they had been. I hope that he will forgive me eventually.

As for us, we are settling in nicely in our new environment. Akane and Ranma are enjoying their new high school. There has been a little bit of trouble with some fighting, but nothing on the scale that happened at Furinkan. Believe it or not, Ranma is actually getting fairly decent grades, only a little below Akane's, and he studies hard with her every night.

So far, we have remained undiscovered by anyone, which has made life pleasantly quiet and uneventful. Thank you, sister, for so faithfully abiding by our wishes in this matter. I will admit some degree of surprise that Cologne, at least, has not appeared yet.

Please assure father and the Saotome's that Akane and Ranma are keeping up with their martial arts, working out at a nearby dojo twice a day, both before school and in the evening. Ranma is actually training Akane seriously, and it is remarkable to hear the happiness in her voice as she proudly shows off her bruises to me. Ranma says that by the end of summer break, he thinks she'll be up to the level that he was at when he arrived in Nerima. By the end of the school year, he'd be willing to bet on her against any martial artist in Nerima.

As you have probably guessed, we have all taken employment to provide for our new life here. Akane and Ranma both have after school jobs, and I am working full-time, so we're managing all right financially. It turned out that Ranma had a little more money saved up than I think his father could possibly have realized, and I wonder if you ever guessed either. I'm afraid it was pretty much consumed by our initial costs and the school fees. They are both planning to work additional jobs during the summer break to replenish those savings, and to save some money for college next year. I am sure you will understand that! Would you have believed that Ranma is actually hoping to attend college? I wonder what his father will have to say about that.

Please inform father and the Saotome's that Akane and Ranma have been going out together on official dates every week, in addition to the time they spend together studying, training, and so forth. I have even occasionally walked in on them kissing. Hard to imagine our little sister indulging in romantic activities with a boy, isn't it? Although I think they would have started much sooner if only they could have been left in peace.

One more thing. If you happen to see that boy, Hibiki, please inform him for Akane that he is no longer welcome anywhere in her presence. Actually, she put it far less politely than that. I hope that you also were unaware that he bears a Jusenkyo curse which turns him into a pig, and that he has been playing the part of P-chan. His behavior was inexcusable, and I would hope that every member of our family will make that clear to him.

Your loving, though absent, sister,

Kasumi

Nabiki read through the surprising text a second time as she tried to collect her scattered wits. There were so many items of news in there that it made her mind reel. Ryoga is P-chan? The perverted little bastard, using her sister like that! No longer welcome indeed. Ranma planning to go to college? Ranma actually training Akane seriously? Would the sun rise in the west tomorrow?

She automatically began checking to see whether the email account from which this was sent could provide any clue to her sisters' location, despite Kasumi's claim to the contrary, not that she had much hope. It would be all too easy to arrange things to prevent that, even if her sisters were not as skilled at such subterfuge as she was herself. While doing so, she also printed out copies of the email to mail to her father and to Ranma's mother.

After thinking for a few minutes she hit the "reply" button and typed.

Hello sis.

It's great to hear from you, although you really surprised me as well. You should have more consideration than to put so many shocks into one email. Ryoga (no I didn't know about the pervert). Ranma getting good grades (!) and planning on college. Ranma training Akane for real. Ranma dating and even daring to kiss Akane. Have a little pity for the state of my mind, please.

My own classes are going very well, thank you, and I am thoroughly enjoying the university. My little sources of income are still going well, although I took quite a cut with Akane's and Ranma's disappearance. Please let them know that I expect them to make that up to me. :)

Father is currently living alone at home. Ranma's mother has moved back into her own house now that repairs are complete, and she ordered his father to go find Ranma and not to return home until he had done so. At this time we don't know where he is. Hopefully, wherever he is, it is nowhere near you three.

My contacts in Nerima report that the Kuno's and Amazons are still trying to locate you, though apparently without much success yet, at least that I know of. Mousse is keeping out of sight a lot, as Shampoo is reportedly even more short-tempered with him than usual. There is nothing new to report about Ukyo. From what I hear, she is attending school and running her restaurant, and is said to be walking around in a visible state of depression. There is no indication that she is attempting to find you.

Are you planning to make any visits home before the end of the school year? Are we going to be invited to the graduation? What are you doing yourself, Kasumi, aside from your job and, I assume, the housework and cooking? I have to tell you, with all of the other shocks you sprang on me in your email, if you said that Akane had finally learned how to cook, I'd be willing to believe you. Well, maybe not.

Your most sincerely shocked sister,

Nabiki

On a bright June day, Shampoo was waiting tables and serving ramen to the last few lunch customers at the Nekohanten, while her great-grandmother was cooking in back and Mousse was out purchasing supplies. Her thoughts turned, as they so often did, to her wandering husband and the girl he had wandered off with.

‹Ranma, where are you? Why did you leave me? Can't you see how much I love you? Why would you run off with a plain, clumsy tomboy who can't cook and isn't anywhere near as good a warrior, when you could have me? You can't really love her more than me? No! That's not possible. You must accept me eventually, it is inevitable, and when you do the daughters we have will be the greatest warriors ever!›

She wished Cologne would release her from her duties at the restaurant to go track him down. Had she not proven her ability to do so, when she tracked him all the way from their village in China to Nerima in Japan, even though she had not known of his Jusenkyo curse at the time? She was confident that she could find him within a few weeks if she were not tied down here, but her elder would not listen to reason on the subject.

"Excuse me, miss, could I have some lunch please?"

Shampoo spun around at the familiar voice. "Ryoga! Have not seen you in long time."

"Shampoo? Am I back in Nerima, then?"

"Yes, silly. Have seen Ranma or Akane recently?"

"Yeah, about a week ago ..."

Shampoo almost flew back into the kitchen as soon as she heard his "yeah," leaving Ryoga talking to empty air. "Great-grandmother! Ryoga here! He see Ranma a week ago!"

"Well don't just stand there child! Bring him back here so we can talk. We'll feed him at the table in here."

Shampoo grabbed Ryoga's hand and dragged him into the kitchen where Cologne was working over the stove. She pushed him down in a chair at a table there, and put a bowl of ramen in front of him. "Here lunch. Now talk, pig-boy. Where Ranma?"

"Isn't he here in Nerima?"

"Argh. No. He and Akane run away together, no can find so far. You see them, you know where they are."

"Oh. I see. I am sorry Shampoo, but I'm afraid that, well, you know me. I have no idea of what town I was in at the time. All I remember is that Akane was trying to kill me, because Ranma broke his word and told her about my curse. She didn't even give me a chance to try to explain."

"Never mind that, boy," Cologne put in abruptly. "Tell us what you can remember seeing at the time."

Ryoga pondered. "Well, Akane was wearing a dark blue dress, I think it was a school uniform. There were several trees around, because I remember being slammed into them. Also, there was a high wall, because Akane kicked me over it."

Cologne's eyes rolled upward. "Any recognizable buildings? Landforms? Other landmarks?"

"Well, I do remember some tall buildings. Oh, and there were some mountains nearby."

Shampoo grabbed her hair and tugged at it, as if trying to rip it out of her scalp. "That useless, lost boy. Need something can tell us what town is in."

"Sorry Shampoo, I just don't know. Would you like to come with me and I can see if I can find them again?"

Shampoo considered this with a touch of apprehension. Following Ryoga would be a sure way to find oneself wandering all over bizarre places for a long time, but he did seem to have a knack for finding his way back to Akane or Ranma eventually. She looked at her grandmother with a mixture of dread and hope.

Cologne saw both her hope and her apprehension and shook her head. "No, I cannot spare you from the restaurant for the months it might well take before Ryoga finds his way back to them. I still hope to hear something from my own contacts soon."

"It been nearly three months, great-grandmother."

"I know child. I have people making inquiries at high schools throughout Japan, and they must do more than make a single phone call to the school, since someone may have been bribed to lie for them. There are a great many high schools, I'm afraid, but we're certain to locate them sooner or later."

Shampoo gave a long-suffering sigh, but forbore to make further comment. In the meantime, Ryoga had finished his ramen, but had a question or two of his own.

"Now, do I understand you to say that Ranma is living alone somewhere with Akane?" he asked with deep displeasure in his voice.

Cologne answered before Shampoo could speak. "Not quite alone, we understand that Kasumi is living with them. Knowing the oldest Tendo girl, I am fairly sure that she would not allow son-in-law to engage in any improper behavior with Akane, at least not until, I mean if, they decide to get married."

Ryoga considered this, and then nodded in agreement. The idea of anyone engaging in improper conduct anywhere around Kasumi was preposterous.

"Okay. But I'm going to find them again, then I'm going to beat Ranma to a pulp for forcing Akane to do this, and explain the truth to her. I'll tell you what, if I find them before you do, I'll call you from where they are and describe everything around me to you until you can figure out what town I'm in."

Cologne stared at Ryoga until he started fidgeting, then suggested, "Or, you could just read the town's name to us off of the telephone directory, or grab some passerby and ask him."

Ryoga had the grace to look embarrassed. "Uh, yeah, I guess that I could do that also. Well, the sooner I start, the sooner I'm likely to find them. Good-bye."

He got up and, after a side trip into the basement, left by the back door of the café. Mousse was on his way back with the supplies he had been sent to purchase, and saw the other boy leaving. For once, Mousse had his glasses on. ‹Hmm, that looks like Ryoga. I wonder what he was doing here?›

As Ryoga passed him, he heard the lost boy mumbling to himself. "I wonder what town Masamune High School is in, anyway?"

Mousse blinked once or twice at the odd question, but continued on into the café, where he found Cologne and Shampoo arguing about where Ranma might be and Ryoga's inability to provide any clues as to his location. Apparently Ryoga had encountered Ranma recently. This cast an entirely different light on what Mousse had just heard outside.

‹Masamune High School is where Ryoga must have found Ranma. If I provide this information to Shampoo, she'll be ecstatic, and will likely smile at me. On the other hand, it will allow her to find Ranma, after which she'll leave to pursue him again. No, I think it best to just say nothing of this.›

Mousse smiled enigmatically to himself, and started putting away the things he had just brought in.