Disclaimer: This is not a professionally written story, as I am only a hobbyist writer. I'm not an English whiz, and most of the time those that I have pre-reading for me cannot catch every mistake I make. Oh yeah I do not own Ranma ½ or any of the characters. This is simply a what-if situation. What if this had happened? Also, I would like to apologize to those that are waiting on me to work on "Evil Kasumi Returns" and "Ranma and the Outers." Although I have not had many ideas for them lately, I will not let them die as I have some of my previous Tenchi Muyo stories. I'm just taking a slight break from them to work on some other ideas that won't get outta my head until I write them down.
An apology: I wanted to say I am terribly sorry to everyone for my bad spelling and the punctuation mistakes in the last several chapters have been awful! I hope to soon be able to go though the posted chapters and edit them and eliminate many of the errors.
And now…
Primal Ranma Restless Nights
Nabiki sighed as she lay in her bed trying to go to sleep. However, even though her body was tired, her mind was too active to allow her to rest. 'Damn it, why can't I go to sleep?' she asked herself and rolled over onto her side looking at the clock. Already it was near midnight and everyone was in bed and asleep, but her. Turning over onto her back, she sighed as she thought about the day for what seemed the hundredth time.
'There're just too many changes in too short a time,' she grumbled. After her father had told Kasumi not to worry about the bent pan, it was her job to watch over Ryoga as her father put Ranma to bed. Just thinking about the pig-tailed martial artist brought up a string of conflicting emotions. She wanted to strangle him for scaring them all as well as trying to kill her father. But then again she wanted to kiss him because it seemed that her daddy had finally opened his eyes and was suddenly there for them because of tonight.
And yet having to deal with Ryoga made her want to either pull her hair out or shave Ranma bald. 'Damn martial artists,' she grumbled.
When Ryoga had woken up, he looked around and noticed Nabiki sitting across the table from him and scowling. "Good you're up."
"Um… where's Ranma?"
"Before we talk about him, I want to give you a little free advice."
"Free?" he asked blinking. When Nabiki gave out "free" advice, there was trouble, big trouble!
And it looked like he was the one in trouble this time.
"Yes and the advice is… to stay the hell away from Ranma for a while," Nabiki told him, her tone leaving no argument.
However, Ryoga was never good at reading tones. "Why? He has to pay for what he's… ouch!" he suddenly shouted as Nabiki's hand was introduced to his cheek.
"Listen, and listen good pig for brains," she told him while shaking the pain out of her hand. "You were there when Ranma took off Happosai's arm, right…"
"Yeah…so…"
"Did you also see what he did to Kuno… or Kodachi?"
Shaking his head he stupidly asked, "To Kuno?"
"At school this morning, Ranma pinned Kuno to the wall with his own sword."
"But it's made of wood."
Nabiki sighed and explained what she had seen, how Kuno attacked with a real sword, and then how quickly Ranma nailed the kendoist to the wall. This was followed by an abbreviated meeting under the bridge where Ranma attacked not only Ukyo but also Kodachi when they tried to attack her.
Ryoga was slowly getting it. "He… he did that…"
She nodded at him. "I'm not sure of the extent of what he did to her, but I saw Ranma jump towards Kodachi, then there was some blood flying. When I was able to check him over later, the blood was not his… of that, I'm positive."
"He… he attacked them… and Kuno… he…" Ryoga then grinned. "Serves that jerk right! If I could ever get the chance, I'd do that to him for what he's done to Akane!"
Nabiki hadn't lost her neutral look as she asked, "Oh really?" though a slight smirk seemed to form on her face.
"Yeah."
As he said that, Nabiki just shook her head sadly, as he's had many chances to do just that. Only he's never attacked Kuno, only Ranma. 'Idiot,' passed though her mind as she thought of him.
Later, Nabiki groaned as she looked at the clock. "It took me over two hours to get rid of him," she complained while trying to fall asleep. Yet even Ryoga's visit proved informative. "I guess sis has really been reading all those books," she mumbled wryly. Having seen first hand how much damage and punishment Ryoga could take in a fight, it was rather interesting to her to see Kasumi bring him down with one hit. But earlier this evening the elder daughter explained it.
"Oh my, but no one has ever hit him in that spot before. I read in one of Tofu's books that there is a spot on the back of everyone's head, that if hit hard enough, it will bring unconsciousness."
"Oh…" was all that Nabiki could say in response to that. It sounded simple enough, and it worked flawlessly. However, it was still surprising seeing Kasumi actually hit someone.
Letting out yet another annoyed groan, Nabiki grudgingly sat up in her bed at looked at the clock. "Great … at this rate I'll be awake all night. Why can't I just go to sleep?" With the room dark and the only light coming from the illuminated digits on her alarm clock, Nabiki came to a decision. "Ok Fine, if I'm going to be awake all night, then I might as well get a midnight snack."
Licking her lips, Nabiki threw off her covers, got out of bed and made her way out of her room and down the hall. However she never made it down the stairs. Passing by Ranma's room she thought she heard something, something that sounded like a whimper. "Ranma?" Opening the door slightly she peeked in and then let out a soft gasp.
"No…. no… stay back… no…" Ranma was muttering as he was curled up in what could only be described as a fetal position in the corner of his room, his head moving back and forth as though he was trying to ward off an attack.
"I'm coming in…" she called out and slipped into the room. But Ranma didn't seem to notice.
"Please… daddy… no more…."
"Oh Ranma…" she said softly, her lips quivered as she moved closer. 'What did your father do to you?' she asked mentally and kneeled down beside him. Slowly she reached out her hand and slowly began to stroke his hair.
"Please… help me…" he cried softly.
Sitting down beside him, she continued to run her fingers though his hair, at least until he moved towards her. Quickly he slipped one arm behind her as he rested his head on her lap with his other arm slipping over her legs with his hands clasping together. Looking down at him she swore softly but then smiled as he seemed to relax. "I promise Ranma … I'll do whatever I can to help you."
For some time that night she sat there, leaning against the wall and caressing Ranma's head as he slept, or at least until she fell asleep as well.
As the residents of the Tendo home slept, none of them witnessed the glow that began to encompass Ranma, and then overtake a sleeping Nabiki. Neither did the two awaken while this was happening. The glow, stemming from Ranma, covered them both and stayed that way for most of the night, with the household oblivious to it as were the two it was centered on.
As the Tendo residence slept, a disgruntled fiancée was planning her revenge. "Perfect," Ukyo said as she thought over her plan again. "Simple, effective, and it will get her away from my Ra-chan!" Putting her things up, she imagined life with Ranma, and free of the other fiancées. "Oh Ra-chan… things will be perfect for us! We'll travel a little, in the future that is, once we have some more help and our business will grow and we'll have restaurants all over Japan… no the world!" Having cried for most of the day intermixed with bouts of anger the likes of which Akane had never shown had made Ukyo a little more than confused in her ideals. This was also not helped by the fact that she's had no food and only sake since this morning.
Outside her door, Konatsu was worried. "Ukyo-sama… what are you going to do?" he asked the door sadly knowing that she wouldn't hear him. But however much he was worried, he knew there was nothing he could do, and that was making him even more nervous. Looking at her door as he passed it yet again, he made a vow to himself. "Whatever she does… I will help her… even if… even if it means my life…"
Yet even with Ukyo's desperate plans, Konatsu made his vow and would stand by it, he just hoped his new promise wouldn't come true.
While he was hoping to avoid death, a certain overweight martial artist was almost wishing for it to come quickly. 'Oh my head… my stomach… my arms… ouch… everything… hurts…' Genma thought as she tried to get comfortable. Unfortunately because of his training he was very resistant to the soothing effects of the drugs used to ease his pain. And the doctor at the clinic refused to give him any sake. All this meant for the injured martial artist was that he was going to have to spend a night feeling as if his skin was being burned off from the hundreds of small scratches over his body while he was covered only by a thin sheet on one of the clinic's beds.
But it also made him think of something… 'Ranma… he… he tried to kill me… he wanted to do this to me,' he thought as he recalled how Ranma had said that he'd end his fathers life. 'What's happened to you my son?' he asked and conveniently forgot all the things he had put Ranma through for the art. "At least Nodoka wasn't here to see this…" he mumbled and looked at his hand. He could see it, move it, yet he couldn't feel anything though it. 'Its like its… dead…' Genma thought and tried to pick up the sheet that covered him, and found that he could not tell he was holding it, even though he could see his finger gripping it tightly. Sadly it was as the doctor's said; his nerves were, for lack of a better word, dead.
"I'll never feel anything again…" he mumbled and looked at his hand; or more aptly, the burn and the cut on his hand. When he had awoken earlier he had been in a cold sweat and screaming for Ranma to stop. It was only after he found out where he was that he relaxed. Or at least he tried to but he was being treated for two-hundred thirty three minor scratches, forty seven major ones that required stitches and a hand that had been completely frozen. When he had tried to pick up a cup of tea, he couldn't tell how hard he was squeezing it until the cup shattered driving several shards into his hand while burning his hand badly. Yet, all he did was look at it and wonder why he felt nothing.
"What are we going to do about that boy?" he asked the room, and received nothing in reply, though he was not expecting a reply either.
Even though Genma was hoping to get some feeling back, there was one, who was hoping to get rid of a feeling, one that was terrifying.
Nodoka Saotome, matriarch of the Saotome clan was hurrying home as fast as she could. Just three days ago she had to leave Nerima to go to see about a supposed relative needing help. Unfortunately it turned out to be someone trying to get back at them, because it was another of those poor souls Genma had scammed in his previous travels.
However for the past two days she has felt an overwhelming darkness threatening to consume her. Only one time before in her life had she felt this darkness, 'but that was just a year after Genma left with Ranma…' she thought to herself almost in a panic. 'I was so worried, and the nightmares...' shivering she tried to think of other things, but the only peace of mind was that after having that lingering darkness haunting her dreams for two weeks, they finally went away. It was shortly after then that she received a postcard from her husband saying that they were both fine.
"Please… ancestors… let my son be all right…" she pleaded silently as she rode the train back to Nerima. As it was, it was going to take her several more hours to get back, which meant she would be returning sometime in the early morning hours.
To be continued.