I wake up, it's a bad dream,
No one on my side, I was fighting,
But I just feel too tired to be fighting,
Guess I'm not the fighting kind.
Wouldn't mind it if you were by my side,
But you're long gone, yeah, you're long gone now, yeah,
Where do we go?
I don't even know,
My strange old face,
And I'm thinking about those days,
And I'm thinking about those days.
- "A Bad dream" by Keane
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Akane catches the last moments of Ranko defending herself. The two men on the ground groan, their bodies locked up from pressure points.
The final thug, the gun in his hand pointed to the sky, looks disbelievingly at the petite redhead that has his hands clasped in her own before she wrenches the hands away from the gun and kicks it away, jabbing the man in the legs, then the hips and finally the back, sending him tumbling down, too.
Ranko's left standing, panting, on shaky legs. She falls to her knees. Akane can see her battle aura guttering, flickering like a candle in the wind. Then she looks up at the top of the alleyway and jumps. Akane tracks her as she crawls into a small hole up there, somehow not noticing the short-haired girl. Akane bites her lip and considers a moment. That battle aura looked unhealthy, and the girl looked worse than she'd ever seen anyone, but she can't leave these idiots here.
She grabs all three by the scruff of the neck as well as the gun, making sure she doesn't touch it directly, then dumps them in front of the police box. The officer looks shockedly at her and she shakes her head.
"The Angel did it, but she looked so weak when she'd finished…" Akane says. "I'm going to get her and take her home."
The officer swallows and nods at the unhappy martial artist in front of him and starts dealing with the knocked-out thugs as Akane makes her way to the alley and climbs slowly up the wall to the hole, peering in. She tries not to make any noise.
Ranko's curled up on a filthy bedroll, a ratty pack nearby and she's clutching a plastic wrapper holding something green. The girl's on her side and Akane stares at how thin she is.
She hears Ranko's voice, weak and tired and defeated.
"No one should die in pain… But all I've known is… Since then… Since the wish… But she's so beautiful, mother. She shines." A hiccupping sob, "Mother… Mother… I… I hope I see you soon…" Ranko curls up more tightly. "I'm sorry, I ruined everything. But she's better at least. I can… I can go knowing tha…" She trails off as she passes out and her aura starts to gutter again.
Akane doesn't even consciously register she's moving until she encircles the petite redhead in her arms, drawing her into a bridal carry. She walks to the open pack, kneeling and supporting Ranko on her knees while she works with her free hand, and peers in. A tatty, threadbare Fuurinkan High uniform and ratty, patched PE uniform, all dirty. A bookbag and a couple of school textbooks, and a water bottle that's mostly crushed plastic at this point. And that's all the girl has. The crinkling of plastic reminds her of the green package, and she looks at it to see it's a pair of pyjamas, cotton with satin trim, and an orchid pattern running up it.
She puts these in the pack and looks at the emaciated girl on her knee.
She comes to a decision, flipping her phone out of a pocket and texting her mother to prepare for a guest, then looks at Ranko's meagre possessions. The filth and the rattiness of it all makes her want to cry, but she takes in a deep breath and lets it out, centering herself.
Akane bundles it all into the pack as she takes it down and slings it over her shoulder. She keeps Ranko in her arms, balanced and secure, and takes off at a brisk pace, hopping down without realising how far she'd jumped down, as intent on her goal as she is.
Ranko comes to, the headache from her hunger gnawing at the top of her head already there. She's being carried in strong arms; she can feel the muscle holding her rock steady. For a dizzying moment she thinks it's Ryouga, her Ryouga, come through time and space and desperation to find her, like a gallant knight. Then she hears the different heartbeat, feels the press of a bust against her side and the scent of cherry blossoms and lily of the valley, and she realises it's a girl carrying her.
She looks up groggily and sees brown eyes cast down at her, lips pursing.
"…Akane…" Ranko breathes softly. Then she remembers who she is to the girl now. No one.
She really is just a jibakurei now.
"…Sorry. Tendou-san." Ranko says after a moment, shuddering. She wiggles to try to get out of Akane's grip. She doesn't deserve this. She shouldn't be imposing on Akane. She wished her life with Akane away. "Please let me go…"
Akane's arms tighten around her and she wonders a moment if Akane might not be stronger than she is now, especially with Ranko being so malnourished.
"Hello Ranko-chan." The short-haired girl says to her. "I'm taking you home. 'No' isn't an acceptable answer. You need, in order, a bath, food, water, clothes and comfortable sleep. And I'm going to make sure you get them."
"Mmh." Ranko struggles some more, but she's so weak from hunger that all she does is wiggle some. "Let me go!"
"Not an option, Ranko-chan." Akane growls.
"Please, please let me go!" She wriggles some more. "I don't deserve… I was so close…"
"Ranko-chan, you're coming and that's final. You can leave once you're better but right now you need somewhere to stay that's safe while you recover."
"I can…"
"No, you can barely move as it is." Akane says, hefting her. "Now, stop arguing with me, baka."
Ranko goes quiet, shuddering in Akane's arms. Eventually she shyly puts her arms about Akane's neck to steady herself and buries her head against the short-haired girl's chest, listening to the heartbeat.
"Ranko-chan?" Akane's voice is unsure, not at all like the confident young woman she sees in place of her constantly down, constantly angry friend. "Why did you… why did you lie to me? To all of us? About having a home? About your food? Who are you, really?"
Ranko feels the hot flush of shame, mixed with her usual bitterness and loneliness. She sighs, tears falling from her eyes again. "I'm no one. I d-don't deserve the h-help. I d-d-did all of th-this to myself. I gave up my existence. I h-have to bear the burden myself."
Akane looks curiously down at the light girl in her arms. "What?"
Ranko closes her eyes. "It doesn't matter, Tendou-san." She says wearily. "All you need to know is that I had to give up my existence so my family could be happy. Why should I make anyone else pay the price for associating with me?"
Akane frowns as Ranko seems to drop off again and her mind whirls. The misery she hears in the petite redhead's voice, the defeated, lonely attitude rubs her the wrong way. It makes her want to scream, to grab the girl by the shoulders and shake her. Tell her that people care about her.
But the truth is that aside from her and Nabiki's curiosity, most people had already forgot about the redhead's passing involvement in Fuurinkan High by now. And as Nabiki had found no trace in any system of the girl, who thought she was just a spirit hanging around the place of her death, she'd be lying if she said there were people who cared outside of herself, her family (via Akane), Yuka and Sayuri.
Akane decides she's going to get a whole bunch of people to care about the girl.
She brightens as she reaches the genkan of the Tendou compound and uses her foot to knock on the door. It slides open and her mother is there, peering at her, with Nabiki and Kasumi standing behind. They look shocked to see the filthy, emaciated girl in her arms and the ratty pack on her shoulder.
"Mom, let's get her into the warmth." Akane says, stepping in. She slips off her shoes and into her house slippers, though she doesn't take Ranko's shoes off as she has a feeling the girl hadn't been bathing. The smell is already bad enough from her walk back, so she decides to take the girl to the bath right away.
"You found her, sis?" Nabiki asks, looking at Ranko. "Kami-sama, she's so thin."
"She's sick, too, I think. She's burning up." Kasumi has her hand on the girl's forehead. Ranko moans in pain as she comes to, staring with wide eyes at her former family.
She blinks. Then a woman with the gentle face of Kasumi, the chocolate brown eyes of Akane and the light brown hair of Nabiki (though in a bun rather than a bob) is looking worriedly at her. "A-are you…" Ranko's hand reaches out. "A-are you… Akane's mother?"
Kimiko looks quizzically at Akane and then back at Ranko, nodding. "Yes."
Ranko slumps in Akane's arms. "Oh, that's good." She whispers. "Now I know it wasn't… wasted. Now I can…" And she's out.
Akane hefts the slight girl. "Mom, let's get some tea down her with sugar in it. I'll get her to drink it, which should keep her going a little. Then I'm going to get her cleaned up."
"I'll call Toufu. But hold on the tea. If she's been starving, we'll need something small but that will keep her going – some salts, some fuel for her body. Sugar will only make things worse." Kasumi says, all business. "Toufu was coming over tonight anyway to see me, but I'll make him aware we have an emergency. From what I can see she's extremely malnourished, and she looks like she's got some infected wounds. Her temperature is all over the place as well, but I don't know if that's the malnourishment or an illness or just the infection."
"I'll… look through her things." Nabiki nods, "See if I can't find any identification or next of kin or something."
Akane sighs. "Alright, Nabiki, but I don't think you will. I think… I think she's alone." She drops the pack onto the floor and carries Ranko into the family room, sitting and keeping the girl on her lap.
Kimiko walks in with a cup of something Akane remembers her having to drink when she'd had a really bad stomach bug flu, and Akane gently sets the cup to her lips, trying to coax Ranko to drink.
It takes some doing, and Ranko's only half-awake the whole time while Kimiko hovers.
Soun puts a hand on Kimiko's shoulder and then brings her close as they watch Akane try to nurse the red-haired girl.
"Soun." Kimiko says, and the Tendou patriarch looks at his wife curiously. "Soun, she's the angel I saw at the foot of my bed."
Soun looks between them. "She is?"
"I'm certain."
Soun looks confused.
"I thought you dreamed her?"
"So did I." Kimiko says, her voice unsure as she watches her youngest try to take care of Ranko. Nabiki brings in a bottle of water and a banana.
"I heard things like this are good for recovering, from what I found from a quick search." The bob-haired girl comments
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Akane carries Ranko into the furoba and though she weakly struggles to try to take her clothes off, it's clear that the girl's strength isn't what it was. Akane sighs and gently helps the red-haired girl undress, then sits her on a stool and starts scrubbing away what seems to be months' worth of accumulated grime.
Ranko is silent the entire time except for the occasional gasp as Akane accidentally brushes one of her bruises or wounds. Akane almost begins crying as she sees more of Ranko's body under the dirt. The ribs standing out, hip bones standing out, the skin parchment thin and unhealthy-looking. Sores and blotches. Bruises, too.
As she's starting to finish up, the water about the drain a horrible black colour mixed with some pink, Kimiko comes in with some towels she puts nearby.
"How is she doing?"
Akane sighs. "She's very weak, Mom. I don't know how awake she is but she's not saying anything."
Kimiko purses her lips. "Well, we'll let her soak once you've got her clean, then we'll clean those wounds and disinfect as much as we can. I'll get Kasumi to bring some of your clothes since you're a closer fit than she, I or Nabiki."
"Thanks, Mom." Akane says quietly. She keeps scrubbing Ranko's back gently with the soft cloth.
Kimiko watches a moment longer then walks back out, running into Nabiki and Kasumi en route. The girl with the bobbed hair has a disgusted expression on her face.
"Did you find anything?" Kasumi asks, falling into step. Kimiko looks between them
"Nothing, onee-chan." Nabiki grumbles. "Literally all she has is a water bottle, the bedroll, a bookbag with ratty text books, a bedroll, some weirdly pristine pyjamas in plastic and these." She holds up the tattered uniforms. Kasumi blinks as one of the patches on it looks oddly familiar.
"Let me see that." She says, taking the dress. She runs a hand over the patch. "This is mine."
Nabiki stares. "What?"
"Yes, definitely. This is my stitching and... aha." Kasumi turns the dress inside out and shows her a label on the seam. "I always mark here if it's mine."
"Why does she have your old uniforms?" Kimiko wonders.
Kasumi shrugs. "I don't know, Mom, I had thrown these out, and if she is homeless, perhaps she saw it as an opportunity?"
Nabiki shakes her head. "There's something more going on here, I can feel it."
Back in the furoba, Akane finishes scrubbing Ranko as best she can. She moves onto the red hair, undoing the single pigtail slowly and letting the curls loose. The pigtail is down to the small of her back, so it's little surprise to Akane that the ragged red curls reach her backside when unbound.
Akane stares in despair at the matted mess and then sighs. Ranko is still as noncommunicative as she had been, though she's definitely awake. Akane takes a brush and starts teasing as much of the mats away as she can, gently holding the hair above the mat so it doesn't tug.
It takes a not-inconsiderable amount of time for her to sort the hair out and by the time she's done she's more or less got enough hair accumulated on the hairbrush for a wig. But the curls aren't tangled and matted anymore.
She starts lathering shampoo into Ranko's hair and the girl seems almost to come alive as she massages it to her scalp, letting out an adorable noise. Akane smiles softly. "You okay?"
Ranko shivers and then says a single word. "No."
Akane shakes her head and grabs the shower head, pouring water onto Ranko's head to start rinsing the shampoo away.
As before the water cascades down practically black from accumulated dirt. "How long is it since you had a bath, Ranko-chan?" She asks.
Ranko thinks. "Three months. I think. I took a dip in the river a few times." Her voice is quiet, rusty, as if she's barely used it.
"So… you've not properly bathed since I saw you last? Why?"
Ranko shrugs. "I'm not w-worth it. If I'm not real, why should I care for myself?"
Akane frowns. "You're right here."
Ranko shakes her head. "But I'm not a real person. Not anymore. I gave that up."
Akane sighs. "This again." She says. "You're as real as me, Ranko-chan." She picks the shampoo bottle up again and starts lathering it into the girl's hair. "Else I couldn't do this."
Ranko sighs softly, shuddering again. "You wouldn't… shouldn't understand. No one else should ever have to understand."
It takes shampooing her hair three times before the water's clear and soapy coming off. Akane despairs momentarily at how the previously vibrant red hair seems so lifeless and dull as she starts massaging conditioner into the curls. "…Your hair was so nice, Ranko-chan. When we're done we'll get some masks and reconstructors for you, see if we can't perk it up."
Once she's done rubbing in conditioner, she grabs a hair tie from nearby and pulls the red curls into a sloppy bun atop Ranko's head. "We'll leave it in while we soak, then I'll rinse for you. Might do it some good." She helps Ranko to her feet, but the girl seems able to stand on her own after a moment. Akane still helps her to the furo though, and sits her down in it, then gets in too after washing herself down.
Ranko is looking at the water, her face a mask of pain and sorrow, her eyes hollow. Akane looks at her and sighs. "What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't be here." Ranko whispers, staring into the steaming water. "I don't belong here. I don't deserve to be here."
Akane bites her lip. "I think you're in the right place, Ranko-chan." She says confidently. Ranko shakes her head.
"No… My price was to be alone."
"What price?"
Ranko goes silent and closes her eyes. "The price of happiness for others."
"It doesn't make me happy to see you alone." Akane says. "It makes me really sad."
Ranko shakes her head. "But that's me making you unhappy. If I wasn't here, you'd be better."
Akane purses her lips. She wants to grab Ranko, to shake her and tell her that's not true, but she senses it would do more harm than good, especially with her fragile condition.
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Kimiko takes the filthy, ragged overalls that Ranko had been wearing and looks forlornly at them. She might be able to salvage them if they don't fall to pieces in the washing. They're very familiar though, and she can't figure out why until she heads into Akane's room to find some clothes that might fit the redheaded girl. Akane's probably the closest in size to Ranko, though wasted as she is she won't be filling them out.
Kimiko looks through the wardrobe and finds an orange blouse and a pink pair of overalls with 'CHINA' emblazoned on them. Akane'd never worn them; they'd been an impulse buy from a thrift store and Akane had found they didn't really suit her but had still kept them for some reason. 'Nostalgia', she'd said, but she hadn't elaborated.
By the look on her daughter's face, Kimiko didn't think Akane even know what she meant.
She looks between the dirty, ragged clothes and the new ones and blinks in confusion. The outfit is identical. Raising an eyebrow, she looks at the tag on both sets and sees the exact same kanji denoting that they're Akane's. The other eyebrow joins its sibling.
"Oh my." Kasumi says, looking at them alongside her mother. They both know Akane only had the one set, and besides, the kanji on the label is identical, right down to a slight splodge of ink next to it. If she had to hazard a guess, they were the exact same pair of overalls, only more worn, ragged and filthy. The blouse is the same.
Nabiki knocks on the side of the door. "What you up to, guys?" She asks.
"Look at these, Nabiki." Kasumi says, pointing to the two sets of clothes. "They're identical."
Nabiki stares and shakes her head. "What on earth…?" Checking them over, she comes to the same conclusion as Kasumi and Kimiko. "…But what does it mean?"
"Akane said she was mumbling something about giving up her existence…" Kimiko says thoughtfully.
Kimiko sighs. "We'll ask her when she's better – and only then, girls, OK?"
"Sure, Mom." Nabiki says, rolling her eyes. She's not going to interrogate a practically dead girl, even if the mystery is really bothering her.
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A/N: And we're past the worst bit. It's not plain sailing from here, not with poor Ranko's many, many issues. But now she can begin to heal.
You guys have no idea how glad I am to be past all that misery. Writing it took such a toll on my mood.
Get you a girl like Akane.