Ki Cutters: 40

The Posthumous I

Soun, Hinako and Kasumi burst into the emergency room at the hospital. Their eyes searched and found two drooping teenagers sitting in the waiting room with hanging heads. Mousse looked up at their entry, glanced at Ranma who was still in girl-type, then rose to greet them. "Mr. Tendo, your daughter is in surgery. She saved my Shampoo from being hit by a truck this morning," he said mournfully.

"My daughter? My little Akane?" As expected, Soun was rapidly going to pieces. Hinako pushed him into a chair. She did the same with Kasumi, before beginning to pace back and forth like a caged animal.

"What happened, Mousse?" she demanded.

"I'm not sure. I was too busy…" He looked down at himself with a shudder. The front of his white robe was dyed red. "I know Akane saved Shampoo because she asked me if Shampoo was all right. Then Ranma, Shampoo and I were too busy trying to stop the bleeding." He shuddered again.

"Where is Shampoo?" Hinako asked.

"In there." Mousse waved vaguely in the direction of the emergency room. "Cracked ribs and maybe a sprained ankle. Akane just pushed her out of the way. The whole front of the truck was smashed."

The three family members blanched. If the truck was that bad, what of Akane? Kasumi reached out to Ranma who had not even twitched since they came in. "Ranma?" she asked. Her hand closed on the redhead's sleeve and pulled away with a shudder. She looked at the dark red stain and knew it was her sister's blood. "Oh, kami," she breathed.

"I think he's trying to watch Akane in the operating room," Mousse explained.

"Can you see what's going on?" Soun asked sharply.

"No, it's out of my range. Ranma might be able to, though."

Slowly, their friends began to trickle in as they heard of the accident. Cologne, Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung were the next to arrive, followed closely by Ukyo. The latter was devastated due to the manner of their last parting, and stood apart from everyone, choking back sobs and feeling miserable. The Saotomes arrived, Genma white-faced and Kurumi sobbing, while Nodoka and Natsume seemed eerie images of each other. Shampoo limped out, released from the doctor's care. Her ribs were taped, as was her ankle, but still no one had heard anything definite about Akane.

Urudu Kamiko showed up and walked over to Ranma, hunkering down to meet her eyes. Baradandya was out of town. 'Keiichi and Baradandya are out of town visiting his parents,' Urudu whispered, 'but they'll be here soon.'

Sakurida came in with Nabiki. Akane's sister walked directly to Ranma and stood there, demanding attention. "What happened, Ranma?" She continued to stand there until Ranma was forced to lift tearful eyes to Nabiki's face. Nabiki took a long look and nodded. "All right, I can tell you think it's your fault. Now, what happened? Talk to me, Ranma."

Ranma flinched as if struck. "If I'd talked to Akane, this wouldn't have happened," she husked. "It is my fault, in every way that matters." She deliberately shut the world out and went back to her contemplation.

"You mean my baby is in here because of you!" demon-headed Soun.

Hinako took in the unflinching, uncaring Ranma, placed a hand on the metal entry door to ground herself and carefully ki-drained Soun. He floated limply to his seat. "Dear, I think that assumption is a bit premature. Save it for later."

Shampoo spoke up. "I talk to Mousse and Ukyo. Get whole story." She detailed the events of the day excluding only Ranma's problem, which Ukyo hadn't revealed. "If I not chase Ranma, not slide into street. If not stupid, stupid, stupid! …see truck coming, get out of way for self. Akane not need s-save Shampoo. It solve problem if Shampoo d-d-dead." Her face contorted, fighting tears. "I no want Akane die…"

Kasumi and Nodoka each reacted and comforted the distraught girl. The quiet murmuring that followed was interrupted unpleasantly, as yet a new presence invaded the crowded waiting room.

"So, it ends here? What a waste of time." Ti'en Pon stalked into the waiting room. "Get your groom and let's go, Shampoo. There's been enough delay."

Under the emotional shock of the people there, ran a drumbeat of power that made the floor quake. An ashtray vibrated off a table and smashed on the floor. "She ain't dead yet, Tampon!" came a quiet voice. Ranma sat in her chair, blue eyes open and fixed on the old woman. "Leave. Get out… Now. Yer not welcome here."

The old woman's jaw worked, but her teeth were clenched together, locked by the texture and power directed at her. This cursed little boy had called her—! But the signature of power was unmistakable and irresistible. She could not risk a confrontation here and now. She turned insultingly and withdrew. Ranma retreated into herself and resumed her long-distance vigil.

It was past midnight when the tired surgeon staggered out to them. "Tendo family?" he asked curtly. He was accosted by more than a dozen people. "Whoa! I said Tendo! Not everybody!" Non-Tendos stepped back, but listened intently. The doctor glared at them. "Would you prefer a private office to discuss this, Mr. Tendo?" the doctor offered when no one backed down.

Soun looked at the assembled people. "No… These are all her friends. They can hear."

"All right, then." The doctor took a deep breath. "Considering she was hit by a truck, her condition is phenomenal. She's alive; and we're going to try to keep her alive. She's got some severe injuries to her head and neck, and significant internal trauma. Whoever gave first aid at the scene probably saved her life." Everyone glanced at Mousse, who shuffled nervously. "Her injuries are strange, though. Some seemed to have healed unaccountably by themselves. Other injuries indicate there should be more extensive damage in the area, yet all we found was loose blood with no indication of how it got there."

"That Ranma ki healing," Shampoo offered, pointing at Ranma.

"Ki healing?" The doctor looked at the girl who sat in preternatural stillness. "Is that like faith healing?"

"Is confidence healing," Shampoo tried to explain. "Akane have broken ribs, collapsed lung, sac around heart compressed. Cannot fix lung, but move and strengthen sac. Arteries hurt here and here," she pointed to herself at abdomen and inner thigh. "Mousse stop bleeding while Ranma heal there. Is where most blood from." Shampoo clinically detailed Akane's injuries at the scene.

The doctor gulped. Her description fit what they should have found. "Are you a nurse or something?"

"Was nurse for local doctor. Amazon learn from birth how tend wounds. Then, from time turn woman, to be warrior."

"I… see." He walked over to Ranma. "Little lady?"

Ranma ignored him.

"Ranma under curse. Is really boy," Shampoo mentioned.

The doctor twitched. The explanation had seemed oddly reasonable to this point. But this little girl was a guy? He decided to leave well enough alone and get some rest. "We're going to let her rest for a while in ICU and make sure she's stable. Come tomorrow morning, we'll see if she's up to some visitors."

"Doctor, is my little girl going to be all right?" sniffled Soun, his big hands clenching.

The doctor started to give a pat answer but felt eyes on him. He glanced over and saw the redhead staring at him. His skin prickling under the deep blue gaze, he said, "I can't guarantee anything, except that we're doing our best for her. Head injuries are always serious. A lot of this is out of our hands." He felt the gaze shift away from him and glanced over again. The redhead was gazing almost incuriously at the platinum blond. Urudu shook her head and a tear rolled down her cheek. Ranma closed her eyes and let herself sink back into that incredibly focused introspection. "You should go home and try to rest."

"I'm staying. Can I sit beside her?"

The doctor caught himself nodding and shook himself. Her voice was so compelling… No! He was just tired. "It really wouldn't be a good i…de…a." Her eyes caught his again and a shiver swept his spine. He didn't feel threatened. It was as if something whispered that anything except agreement would be a mistake. The final choice was his. He swallowed convulsively. "Why do you…?"

"I love her. I love Akane and I can't leave her side while she's in danger."

The doctor felt tears form along his eyes. He wiped them away and nodded. "I…I'll have a cot put in the room. Whatever you do, don't touch or disturb any of the tubes or monitors. If something happens, get out of the way. The unit doctors and nurses work as a team; and they can't account for a stranger in the middle of things."

"I understand." The eyes closed again. Suddenly she vanished.

The doctor blinked. "Where…?"

"He's back with Akane," Cologne's gravely voice informed him. "You just didn't see him go. He's an exceptional martial artist."

"Him?" the disbelieving doctor asked again.

Just then, a tall man with glasses hurried down the hall. "Listen to her, Shino," he said. He turned to the family. "I just heard. If it helps, my friend — Dr. Rakutenchi here — is one of the best surgeons in Tokyo." It was Tofu Ono.

Kasumi's eyes suddenly flooded with tears. "Oh, Tofu," she whispered. She let herself collapse in his arms, crying into his shoulder while the others looked on expressionlessly.

"I'm so sorry, Kasumi," Tofu groaned. His glasses fogged, cleared and fogged again, but he remained lucid. "So sorry."

Tofu had despaired of ever facing Kasumi as a man. His jerky loss of control had endangered his patients and friends time and again. It had been an act of desperation that had sent him out of the district to take the offer of a residency at one of the larger hospitals. Now, through tragic accident, the Tendos and Kasumi were back in his life. With Akane seriously injured, he had no choice. He would have to be strong for Kasumi.

oOo

Akane was still unconscious ten days later. Ranma still sat at her side, still in girl form and unable to even hold her hand because of the tubes and monitors. When nurses were not in the room, she let her hand drift above the unconscious girl, sensing her ki and making minor adjustments and repairs when she could. The staff was amazed. They'd never had someone so badly injured whose wounds healed so swiftly and who didn't require some aid beyond cleaning and replacing fluids.

Occasionally, Ranma went into the bathroom to sponge off and change into fresh clothes brought by her mother. It was during one of these breaks that she came back to find Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse standing beside the bed. Eyes narrowed, she glided up beside them. "Watcha doin'?" she asked almost sweetly.

"Hello, Ranma," Cologne whispered. "We're ending this whole fiasco. In a few minutes it will be ten days since the accident." She turned slightly as Ranma's aura snapped on. "Now it is time for the last rites."

"What?" she exclaimed, eyes huge. "I won't let you!" Only concern for Akane's many tubes and instruments kept her from hurling herself bodily at them.

"When Amazon born," Shampoo said quietly, "she given last rites, so ancestors know she born to battle, no matter how young. Akane, once 'sister of heart', now is sister by adoption, for she prove by Law and Tradition that heart is true. Shampoo now can give claim on airen to Akane, to sister who have prior claim." Her hand reached out and softly stroked the tuft of hair that escaped the bandages on the injured girl's head.

Ranma stared at Shampoo for a long time. "Is this goodbye, then?" she asked simply.

"No, Ranma, husband-to-be of Akane. This is hello, instead," Cologne said. "Now that you are an official member of our community, we have some options we didn't have before." She smiled grimly. "It's not going to be easy — in fact it will probably kill you —but that's better than just sitting here, isn't it?"

Ranma let out a shuddering breath. "Ya better believe it!"

The nurse came in and shooed them out while she changed Akane's various drips and checked her monitors. Four visitors was just too crowded for her to work properly. They went down the hall a dozen meters or so to a waiting area for family members.

"I'm sorry it took so long, but I had confidence that you could keep her alive until the waiting period was up," Cologne said. "If we don't follow the letter of the rules precisely, the idiots like 'Tampon', as you call her, could challenge the validity of the adoption and plunge the whole bunch of us into the worst mess you could imagine. Anyway… There is an old procedure. No one alive that I know has ever attempted it. The only person I knew who could do it succeeded only once. The second time she joined her patient in death. I'll be honest. You've got to be exceedingly desperate to try this."

Ranma nodded. "That sounds like me."

"Ranma," Shampoo interrupted, "How bad is Akane?"

"I think she'd be dead by now if I wasn't feeding her ki. There's something wrong that I just can't put a finger on. Her aura is off, but just barely and it's not enough to pinpoint the problem. I've dealt with her big injuries. It's these little things I can't track, and it's getting worse." Shampoo leaned forward and hugged her and was surprised when Ranma hugged back. "I'm losing her, Shampoo! I'll take all the help I can get."

"You better, Ranma," she said with mock ferocity. "I want my sister back."

There was a faint clatter up the hall and Ranma vanished. It wasn't the Umisen she used this time, though, but sheer speed. An instant later, a fragile looking figure hurtled out the door to smash into the opposite wall. It bounced off, blue hair disheveled, face contorted in rage.

"Ti'en Pon! What you do here?" shouted Shampoo. Down the corridor, hospital staff began to react to the commotion.

"The nurse is unconscious," Ranma said from just outside the door. "The old ghoul had this in her hand." She held a small hypodermic. "It's not poison, but I'm not sure what it is."

"What is that, Elder?" Cologne demanded with quiet formality.

"Save your breath, Cologne," Ti'en Pon snorted. She hadn't anticipated the Saotome child to guard the little outsider obstacle all this time. She had taken the first opportunity that had presented itself. "I'm part of the official envoy of the Chinese delegation. I can be deported but that's all." She pointed at Ranma. "Touch me again and I'll have you jailed for daring to attack an official of a foreign Embassy. You'd be surprised how long…"

Ranma twitched and Ti'en Pon dropped like a stone. "Mousse, Shampoo, bring the nurse out of the room. If anyone makes a fuss, have them call Dr. Tofu. Granny, come with me."

They slid into the room as Mousse and Shampoo were left with the enviable task of attempting to explain an unconscious old woman, an unconscious nurse and a cracked wall. Their only advantage was that in the past week, the nurses had consistently noted on their rounds that as long as Ranma was in Akane's room, she remained stable. No nurse was going to argue with progress like that.

Cologne and Ranma scanned their patient as the hubbub grew in the hall. Ranma quickly ascertained there were no marks in Akane's skin. Cologne rapped her lightly on the head. "Idiot. Syringes are often used to administer drugs directly into the various drip feeds. Pay attention." She pointed to a bag of clear fluid. "That's the saline feed. Check for signs of what was in the hypodermic."

"Okay… It's in there."

Cologne hopped over and turned off the feed. Then carefully pulled the needle from Akane's arm. "If we're lucky, none of this has gotten into her system yet." Immediately, an alarm went off, causing Ranma to jerk in surprise. "Relax, dear. That always happens when one of her treatments is threatened."

A nurse managed to stick her head in the room. "Please, the patient needs help."

"Let her in, children." The nurse hurried over and quickly assessed what was wrong. As she reached for the saline feed, Cologne stopped her. "The old woman out there tried to kill this young girl." She held up the hypodermic and the nurse stared. "I want this examined quickly so her doctors can determine the degree of threat this is to her. Handle it carefully. I suspect it is biological rather than chemical in nature."

As the ICU team dashed into the room, Ranma had to flare her aura to get their attention. Then they had to explain themselves all over again. A fresh saline drip was fitted and Shampoo escorted the compromised bag to the lab, as an unofficial bodyguard to make sure no one tampered with it. Confirming that Akane was, at least, stable, the team went back to their stations, the doctor promising to contact them when lab results came back. The police came then, got statements and offered to leave a guard at Akane's door. Cologne and Ranma regarded one another.

"Any guard you posted would be useless and helpless," Ranma said. "I'm all the security she needs." She had to prove it, but finally the two embarrassed inspectors decided having a little girl put them out of commission merely by touching them, was a bit much. Besides, they had reports to file, including complaints to the Chinese Embassy.

"So… Here's the bottom line, Ranma," Cologne husked. "Akane's body can't repair itself; it's too weak. You can't discern what is wrong, except symptomatically. Most senses, even ki senses, aren't receptive enough by themselves to determine that. There is a way to increase your ability to process the information, however. It has to do with dreaming. Shampoo uses something similar to do that reading/memorizing trick Barry and you've been so impressed with."

Ranma nodded. Shampoo reading Moby Dick in English as fast as she could turn the pages was intimidating. "If it's martial arts…"

"It's a related field, but not, properly speaking, martial arts." Ranma subsided at Cologne's words. "Ranma, you have to meditate, much like you do for the ki techniques; but you have to access your ability to dream as well. It is very difficult. But then you do 'very difficult' so easily that it's scandalous. Have you ever tried to control your dreams?"

Ranma blinked. "Well… yeah, I hafta. I'da gone nuts otherwise! You try dreaming of being dropped into a pit of cats, or having huge flightless birds chasing you, or sharks or…"

"Genma's done all that to you?" Cologne demanded.

Ranma nodded. "Cat-fist, Cassowary foot, Shark-fist, yeah, what you did back then, you name it. If it's stupid and claims to be a super-powerful martial arts technique, the old man did it to me. That stuff leaves ya with nightmares!" She gazed at Akane and reached out to caress her forehead. "The worst, up to this point, was Jusendo. Now, there's this."

"Hopefully, this won't be quite that traumatic," Cologne blinked, waiting for a response. When none was forthcoming, she continued, "You need to visualize in your dream an exceedingly complex environment that is very familiar to you. It has to stretch the limits of your imagination. If it's not complex enough, you'll be no better off than you are now. At the same time, you'll be tuning yourself to her aura." She nodded at Akane and Ranma regarded her fiancée with concern. "Akane must be inserted into the dream and aligned with it, so that what you do in the dream will be duplicated in the healing processes of her body. I'll be able to help you with some of it, but in the end, it'll be up to you."

Ranma nodded. "No one's gonna take her from me," she whispered.

oOo

The lab report came back surprisingly quickly. It had taken only ten hours but tests revealed that the saline had been infected with a strain of bacteria common to hospitals. The main difference was the degree of resistance this one had to antibiotics, even the special varieties. "It would indisputably kill Akane, if she had been infected with the stuff," Tofu was saying, while Ranma bolted down a stir-fry. Kasumi sat at the doctor's side; had been glued to him, so to speak, since he had shown up. In those ten hours, Cologne drilled Ranma mercilessly. Ranma's advanced ki training allowed her to pick up a process that usually required months of training. She got some sleep — her first genuine rest in over a week — before she began the working, and huge quantities of food. Her reserves would have to supply both herself and Akane. "Ti'en Pon is presently in the Chinese Embassy. Supposedly under guard, but I wouldn't bet on that. She's supposed to be deported…"

"She'll be dealt with," Cologne promised. "She has friends in high places, but I doubt the Chinese Government wants the embarrassment of an attempted murderess on their hands."

"But you guys tried ta kill Akane a couple of times," Ranma protested, mumbling around her rice.

"We're not here in an official capacity, and you people never actually made a formal complaint," Cologne pointed out, shrugging. "That's part of the punishment of the kiss-of-death and kiss-of-marriage, by the way. The individual is totally cut off from help and must succeed in her mission with all hands turned against her. Only a strong and very smart individual survives. Shampoo has been under that threat longer than anyone in recent history without being imprisoned or successfully eliminating her target. The fact that the combat was so public makes it even more astonishing."

"Right," Ranma muttered. She tucked away a plate of dumplings. "Anyone seen Ryoga yet?"

"No. Ukyo's getting upset," admitted Tofu. "Apparently he's quite hard to find, even with that tracking sense she developed."

"So Ranma is going to attempt this dream-healing?" Kasumi asked.

"Yeah," Ranma replied. "If I it works, you'll have yer sister back." She debated whether to have a soda then decided she might need the immediate boost of caffeine and sugar. The top popped as the door to the room opened.

"We'll all be praying for you, son." Nodoka entered the room, followed by her husband who was sweating nervously. "I know you have to follow Akane, where ever she goes."

Ranma nodded. "Could you ask Mrs. Morisato to see me before I start this? I need to ask her something."

"Of course, dear. Are you going to change back before you try?" She indicated Ranma's cursed state.

"This is a penance, Mom," she said, shrugging. "I don't feel I deserve to be me, until I've saved her." Her mother nodded understandingly.

"Ranchan?" Ukyo stuck her head around the corner of the door. "I finally found him." She dragged Ryoga, bedraggled and dirty, to the door.

"Oh, my god." Ryoga stared at Ranma sitting beside the tube-covered form of Akane. "Ranma!" he began to roar.

(Whack!) "Keep your voice down," hissed Ukyo.

"How could you let this happen?" Ryoga accused, sotto vocce.

"I'm gonna try ta fix it, P-chan."

"Will you quit with the pig-jokes?" Ryoga snarled. "How can you joke when Akane…"

Ukyo clapped a hand over his mouth. "Ranma's going to fix all that today, Ryoga. He's attempting a special healing technique Cologne knows. He's been training…"

"And if it doesn't work?" the fanged boy demanded belligerently.

"I die with her," Ranma said simply. "It's all or nothing."

Ryoga blinked, then took a deep breath. Letting it out again, he whispered, "You better come back alive then, jerk, so I can pound you for getting her into this predicament."

Ranma smiled faintly. "That's all the extra incentive I need, piggy," she replied. "In my spare time, I'll try to come up with something special related to yer new curse, okay?"

"You just keep your mind on business," Ryoga snorted. "We'll be waiting for you."

Ranma meditated for an hour or so in preparation for the working. The goddesses came as a group, Keiichi in tow, to talk to her. Baradandya led the way, her eyes filled with sorrow. She took Ranma in her arms and held her close as a mother would her child.

"I'm so sorry we can't use our powers for this, Ranma," Baradandya said, her eyes resting on Akane's still form. "If it helps, I believe you can save her."

"Mrs. Morisato," Ranma looked up into her blue eyes, a deeper clearer blue than her own. "I don't blame ya or nothin', but I don't understand why ya can't help Akane."

Baradandya's tears fell freely. "In this hospital alone, Ranma, there are fifty-seven people fighting for their lives. The youngest has only taken a dozen breaths, the oldest might have but a dozen left. If I help one, Shouldn't I help all?" Ranma felt her body shake with emotion. "If I help all, here, shouldn't I help all, everywhere? If I help, do I really help? I do not know my Father's will in all things, nor do I know Akane's future.

"What I can say is, in this world as it exists now, He has decreed that mortals must depend on themselves in facing the tragedies of this world." A tear dropped, sparkling, to the floor. "A kami in the service of the Almighty, as we are, is limited — by our will and by His — so that you children may continue to grow and become strong. I want so much to reach over and simply heal Akane, who is my dear friend, but I may not, because the healing must come through you who are truly of this world." She sighed then nodded as if listening to some unheard voice. Gently pushing the redhead to arm's length, she added, "I may tell you there is hope. While I may not help you, I can tell you, you will find aid unlooked for. Don't be afraid to accept what is offered."

Ranma nodded but looked puzzled. "I think that's what I needed to hear." She hugged Baradandya again, then Urudu and Sakurida and even Keiichi. "But how can I find help? It's not like ya do this as a crowd."

"Our prayers go with you," Baradandya said, seeming to avoid the question.

"Unceasingly," Urudu promised. Sakurida, Baradandya and Keiichi nodded emphatically.

"Then I guess I'm all set," Ranma smiled sadly but honestly, and said something that gave Keiichi a distinct sense of déjà vu: "Can't do better'n goddess' prayers!"

Ranma soon was lying down on the cot they had brought into Akane's room and reached across to run her hand along her cheek. "I'm coming, love." Then she sought within and found her center. Taking a deep breath, she released the tension within and sought the realm of dreams, her aura washing over and mingling with Akane's like a gentle wave. Her heart beat once, twice, three times and the gray mist of another reality became her vision and her canvas. She had already decided on the analog reality from which she would sculpt Akane's healing.

The mist swirled, parted, and a wall came into view. Ranma grinned. She was very familiar with this wall and what lay within. She walked up to the gate and rang the bell. She heard nothing. Peering up, she noticed the rope was knotted around its pulley.

"Huh! I guess this is where I start," she muttered. She jumped up and untangled the rope, making sure it was undamaged. Then dropping down again, she rang the bell. "There! That sounds better. She reached for the gate, but it popped open ahead of her hand. She jerked. In front of her stood a familiar face.

"Oh, Ranma! At last you've come."

Dirty and haggard as if she hadn't slept a wink since the accident, a tall young woman with long brown hair bound in a ponytail stood within the gate. Behind her, the Tendo dojo and grounds looked equally disheveled. Ranma blinked. She hadn't thought her analog would have the inhabitants as well. "K-kasumi?"

"Could you really imagine the Tendo house without me?" she smiled gently. "I am an analog of your Kasumi and I have my job to do, just as you have yours. Please come in!"

Ranma walked the grounds with Kasumi, making a list of the damages. The place was in one piece, but as dilapidated as if Ryoga, Taro, Mousse and Shampoo had all been attacking Ranma for a week. The koi pond was marred by the signs of multiple mallet strikes. Ranma's pigtail itched. It looked like Akane had a field day here. Shingles were missing from the roof. Windows were broken or dirty. The fence was cracked. Many of the trees had broken branches. Shoji were cracked or missing. They moved into the house. The table was broken and upside down. The walls seemed sound enough though. The rail of the stairs was missing spindles. The list went on and on. They made their way upstairs, checking the guest room and Akane's room for damage. Akane's pillow was soaked as if by tears, but those two rooms seemed intact otherwise.

Nabiki's room held the next surprise. "I've been waiting for you, Saotome."

"N-Nabiki?"

"Kasumi may handle the comfort and necessities, but someone has to manage the resources." She eyed him. "Give me your wallet… Be a good boy!" she added sharply. She snapped her fingers.

Ranma peered at her, sweating. Wallet? She reached into the back pocket of her pants and jerked. She did have a wallet. Inside was… money, sort of, and a credit card. Ranma had never owned a credit card in his life. Where did this one come from?

"Come now, Ranma," Nabiki husked in that low insinuating voice of hers. "Use your brain for a change. What have you been spending to keep us going this long?"

"Ki?" Ranma blinked.

"Ki. You're rather wealthy in that regard. If you weren't so well matched with my sister, I might make a play for you."

"Huh?" Ranma shook her head. Nabiki lifted the wallet and contents out of her hands, counted the bills, then booted her computer. She punched in numbers. "What 're you doin'?"

"Establishing your credit," she replied. Her face was hard. "I was afraid of that. You don't have enough."

"I don't—!" That possibility had never occurred to her.

Nabiki looked up at him. "You can drag it out. You can make things more comfortable while it lasts. But…" She looked resigned.

Ranma stood there for what seemed like long seconds. She began to tremble. Not enough? "Ranma Saotome don't lose!" she snarled. She turned and brushed past Kasumi to storm down the shaky stairs and out the front door. She looked up at the formless gray sky and howled her defiance. "I will save her! I will save…" Movement caught her eye.

A slim figure in a yellow gi sat forlornly in the entry to the dojo. Short dark hair, lank and stringy, framed a thin, dirty face with huge sad brown eyes. They met Ranma's and tears leaked down, leaving tracks in the dirty face. "Akane!" Ranma wasn't sure how she moved through the intervening space. Her arms went gently around the figure, forgetting for a moment that this was an analog, a creation to aid in Akane's healing. "Akane, I'm sorry," Ranma sobbed, controls cracking. "I'm…I'm sorry I didn't try to talk to you first. I…I was afraid you'd…"

Akane just sagged into her, leaning but not speaking. Ranma felt hot tears soak her shoulders even as she released her own tears. Finally, she gulped and drew away to arm's length. She wasn't certain how time marched in this frame, but time was definitely of the essence. "I won't lie to ya. Nabiki, or her analogue here, says we can't save ya. I… Hell! You know me! Just like waving food at Pops! I'm gonna save you. No matter what happens, I'm gonna do it, 'cause life ain't worth it for me, without my t-tomboy ta tease." She took several deep breaths. "Now, I know yer bushed. Ya look like hell!" The eyes lost some of their sadness and the brows frowned. "But we're gonna fight this and make this work somehow." She considered Akane's aspect with a worried frown. She wasn't certain what Akane represented in here but she had blurted out the truth. Akane did look like hell. "C'mon, tomboy, tell me where it hurts the most and we'll start there."

Akane looked thoughtful then pointed to the house. Ranma, surprised, glanced inside the dojo. It was a mess, dirt and bits of broken concrete everywhere, but she had to admit it appeared sound. She wondered why, of everyone there, Akane was voiceless. Akane began walking and Ranma followed.

In the house she called out to Kasumi. "Is there any hot water, 'Sumi?"

"No, Ranma, I'm afraid it's been very intermittent. I'm worried it may go out altogether."

Ranma glanced at Akane. "Is this what yer talkin' about?"

Akane shrugged. Ranma sighed and got down to work. From necessity, this was something she was reasonably familiar with. She found the household tools and went to work. 'Maybe Akane and the girls will feel better for a bath,' she thought. Surprisingly, ki vision seemed to work here. She traced the wires and pipes, finding weak spots and strengthening them, locating where wire was frayed and replacing it. Her tools didn't simply repair, she found. Where you might patch a wire with a hunk of tape or a pipe with epoxy fill or solder, she found that with very little extra effort, she could return the analogue to mint condition. In surprisingly short order, they had hot water again and the house electricity was much more reliable.

"Oh, good," Kasumi-analogue said. "I can get laundry done."

"Why don't you get cleaned up first?" Ranma suggested.

"Leave her alone, Saotome," the Nabiki-analogue warned. "You've used your resources pretty generously so far. You've really got to learn where to pinch a yen."

"Excuse me?"

"Ranma, I told you. You don't have enough credit as it is. Your little fetish for perfection is simply siphoning away your account faster without really improving the over-all picture."

Ranma looked down at the towel in her hand. "I see you're going to get bathed."

"Ranma, I'm the resource manager. I keep true to my nature." She eyed him. "What are you?"

She left Ranma standing there, blinking. 'What are you?' What did she mean by that? After a moment's reflection, she decided to forego changing back to male, though.

Shaking her head she turned to Akane. "You gonna wash up a little?"

Akane shook her head. She waved him along. Ranma sighed and followed. She led him to a room he had only infrequently entered — the master bedroom. The door was shut and from inside came heart-rending sobs. Cautiously, they entered.

There was a large futon with western pillows and a warm quilt. On one side, Soun sat and wept. He stared dolefully at a figure stretched out on the futon beside him, a female figure that lay very still, a figure with a face very like Akane's.

Ranma felt her jaw drop. Kimiko Tendo was long dead in the real world, but here she seemed to either have just died or was close to it. It was totally outside Ranma's reference. After meeting Kasumi and Nabiki, she wasn't surprised to see Soun, here, but this? She padded forward and dropped to her knees beside the mattress. Her hand gently touched the woman's still face. Large brown eyes opened and gazed up at her and the lips twitched in a faint smile. Ranma felt her heart thud. Something very important was here, if she could only manage to understand it.

"So, you're Ranma." Ranma jerked. She hadn't expected her to speak. Her voice was similar to Akane's but had overtones like Kasumi's. "I'm so glad to get to meet you, if only for a little while."

"Ma'am?" Ranma felt her voice squeak.

"You led my daughter a merry chase, didn't you? But you've always done your best to protect her." Her arm lifted off the quilt to lay fingertips lightly on Ranma's cheek. "I hope you realize that Akane has always wanted to protect you as well. No," she said quickly as Ranma began to protest, "don't imagine that any woman does not hope to protect her man. We usually handle different things, but yin matches yang in all of us."

"Wadya mean?"

"You know. Each of us is both yin and yang. You shouldn't worry so much about the mix."

Ranma stared. "But… How did…"

"Ukyo told Akane right before she left Ucchan's. Bawled her out very proper in fact. Akane deserved it and was better for it."

"I shoulda told her," Ranma mumbled, glancing at the younger analogue that stood silent beside her.

"Yes." The statement was simple and direct. "Now, once you make us all a little comfortable, you'll need to leave. I know what Nabiki told you. Akane doesn't want you to die for her. Not this way."

"No!" Ranma's body thrummed like cable. "I will not leave her. Ya can't make me."

Kimiko Tendo's analogue sighed and sank back on the pillow. "No, I can't. But I had to try."

"So do I," Ranma said, recognizing her victory. "Even if it kills me, I hafta try.

Ranma threw herself into the work. She fixed the holes in the garden, bringing it to its undamaged state. She cleaned the dojo, even as the Kasumi analogue cleaned the house, sweeping away the concrete and dirt, polishing the floor and going up on the roofs of both buildings to replace shingles. Kasumi called them in for a meal.

That was odd. Not that the Tendo family sitting around the table was odd, but in retrospect… Akane sat beside him, very subdued and still mute. Nabiki sat to the other side, while Kasumi shuttled things in from the kitchen. At the end of the table, Soun sat, reading his paper and sipping tea.

"Ahhh… Is anyone gonna take something up to… her?" Ranma asked finally.

"Who?" asked Kasumi. "Do we have a guest?"

"Uhhh…" Ranma didn't know how to say it. "Excuse me for a moment."

She rushed out of the room made her way to the master bedroom. She curled around the door to the master bedroom and stopped. There was Soun, weeping beside his sick wife. She gaped. She could clearly hear Soun calling to Kasumi for more tea downstairs. Kimiko's analogue opened her eyes and peered at the redhead. "That is a little disturbing, I'm sure," she said. "But it's your dream… and partly Akane's. Do you expect consistency in a dream?"

"Can I bring you something up?" Ranma offered.

"There is no need. Your desire to eat is what triggered Kasumi's cooking. You should understand what that means. Everything that happens here is symbolic of events and needs on your part and hers." They gazed at each other. "So tell me, is it breakfast, lunch or dinner?"

"Dinner," Ranma replied automatically.

"And how soon after dinner do you all go to bed?"

"It varies a lot. But everyone starts cleaning up and settling down soon after…" Ranma finally understood. "Ya mean that when it's time ta go ta bed, that's when Akane dies, don't ya?"

Kimiko nodded.

"An my wanting dinner was my body sayin' I'm outa energy ta help ya?"

"Probably."

Ranma stood there, thinking. How could she stop this? How?

In the outside world, Tofu, Dr. Nokomi and Dr. Rakutenchi monitored their patients closely.

"It's a pity, Ono," Rakutenchi said. "We're losing them both. And after such a favorable start."

"Interesting, the way she got the heater lines going and fixed the kidneys and bladder. Her immune system is becoming dangerously unstable, though," Dr. Nokomi admitted. "I've never seen anything like this. If you could teach something like this, imagine the suffering you could relieve."

Tofu sat in glum thought. "If only we could do something."

"You saw what happened when we tried to move them apart," Rakutenchi reminded him. "They might as well be anchored there."

"Perhaps if another person adept at this level of work were to attempt to join the meld, they might have enough energy to stabilize?" Tofu was talking into space, but his audience brought him around with applause.

"Let's go see that old woman you spoke so highly of!" They hurried to find Cologne.

"It won't work," she told them flatly.

"Why not?" they asked.

"It has to do with the fact that to even talk to them, the new entrant would somehow have to visualize the analogue the boy has created in exactly the same way." Cologne looked very old and wrinkled. Very tired. "I'd do it myself, but even knowing what he was planning, I'd never get it close enough to do any good. We think too differently."

The doctors tried to talk their way around the problem, but to no avail. She was firm. "The best that would happen is that the shock would kill them. I know. Trust me, I know too well." Cologne thought back to when her best friend's grandmother had used this technique in an attempt to save her own daughter after a bad childbirth. They had watched her carefully. When it became apparent that they were failing, and the grandmother was unwilling to let go, Cologne had personally tried to intervene with disastrous results. Ranma would have to do this on his own.

Ranma wandered back to the room and sat down at her place. Moodily, she ate what was there and felt better, but flinched when Akane suddenly yawned and stretched. A glance at Nabiki showed she shared the grim comprehension of their situation. Kasumi yawned politely and began to clear the table.

Ranma self-consciously stood up and picked up dishes. They had to conserve their strength! "I'll do those 'Sumi," she offered.

"Oh, my! You really don't have to, Ranma. That is my job here."

"Yeah, but even in the real world, I help out sometimes," Ranma faked a confident smirk. Over protests, she led the way into the kitchen. She was so busy watching Kasumi and trying to keep track of Akane in the other room and see if Soun simply vanished or went upstairs to join with his doppleganger, that she misjudged how close she was to the wall. The phone fell jangling from its hook.

"Look out!" Kasumi exclaimed. Ranma twisted and caught the phone receiver on her foot. Kasumi put her own dishes on the counter and then relieved Ranma of her load. Ranma flipped the receiver up and caught it, with dramatic flair. Before she replaced it on its hooks, she listened for a dial tone. There was.

As she turned away she froze, asking herself a very simple question. 'Why was there a dial tone if there was no one to call?' She turned to Kasumi who was beginning to scrape the dishes. "Kasumi? What's the phone for?"

"Why… to call out, Ranma," she replied.

"But how do you…"

"You dial it, Ranma."

Ranma picked up the receiver and stared. Was it that simple?