There were lots of people surrounding the Tendo dojo area. Ranma abruptly stopped running when he noticed the crowd. He gulped in anticipation as his body started to shake in fear. He balled his fists tightly while he tried to steady his breathing. His heart was beating painfully, he could actually feel every beat of his heart as it was making his breathing difficult. He, with a dreadful strance, went inside the gate and looked around his surroundings.

He immediately noticed Soun standing and looking at the shattered dojo with his tearful eyes. Ranma quickly went to his side and when he reached in front of him, Soun immediately turned his teary eyes towards him.

"Ranma…Son… Look… everything is destroyed.." Soun said with a depressed wavering tone.

Ranma immediately grabbed onto his shoulders and frantically asked him,

"IT'S NOT THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT ALL THIS... ARE YA OKAY? WHERE IS.. WHERE IS EVERYONE? IS ANYONE'S HURT? WHERE IS.. WHERE IS AKANE?"

"RANMA!"

They both turned towards the panicked female voice and saw Kasumi running towards them. When she reached Ranma's side, she hugged him tightly and started sobbing on his arms.

"Oh Ranma.. Thank God you are here now. We were really scared.."

Ranma's body was shaking with the fear he was feeling for Akane. He couldn't even voice his fear out, dreading the answer. He stood numbly while Kasumi kept wiping, holding onto him as his eyes kept roaming the area to see where Akane was.

Then, suddenly, he saw her. Sitting under the tree behind their koi pound as she leaned her back against the tree. Her eyes had a distant look on it as she kept staring at the shattered Dojo.

"Akane..!" Ranma whispers in a low voice after staring at her for several moments. When Kasumi heard his whisper, she slowly released Ranma and turned her gaze towards the way Ranma was looking at that moment,

"I think she is going through with an aftershock, Ranma. She has been sitting there like this ever since the incident happened.." Kasumi said in a low trembling voice as she wiped her own tears.

Ranma didn't waste any time after hearing that as he went to Akane's side running. Upon reaching her side, he flopped down on the ground beside her sitting form. He still couldn't utter any words to her, his fear of losing her overwhelming his brain again and again, making his body numb. He saw that Akane hadn't noticed him yet as she kept looking at the dojo. Ranma tried to control his panicking heart by taking some deep breaths. But after some moment had passed, he understood that nothing would work at that moment to calm his wildly beating heart. So without thinking twice about what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her slender body and crashed her body with his as he buried his face deep on the side of her neck. He released his breath over her ear while he whispered to her,

"Akane... Oh God! Kane, Please stop doing this to me again and again..."

He felt her body go stiff immediately when he warped his arms around her. But after he talked to her, he felt her body loosened a bit as she let out a shaky breath herself. He took a deep breath from her neck, taking the familiar smell of her to make his numbed mind to start working again. He pressed her tightly to him to feel her heartbeat against his body to calm his dizzying senses. After some time, he slowly calmed down as he slowly released her and saw her looking at him with a terrified look.

"Akane.. You 'kay? I mean, you're not hurt anywhere, are ya? " he asked her while frantically checking over her body for any possible injuries.

Akane couldn't utter anything to him. She kept looking at him with fear in her eyes as her eyes blurred with unshed tears. She rapidly blinked her eyes to make the tears go and bits her lower lip to control her emotions. She saw how frantically Ranma was talking to her , how scared he was looking at that moment, as he kept asking her about her wellbeing. She saw him looking at her with helpless eyes as he grabbed both her shoulders and shook them gently while he asked her,

"Please, Kane. I can't tell if you are hurt or not. Why are ya crying? Is it hurting anywhere? Damn it Kane, If ya don't tell me anything how can I know?" He saw her staring at him while he asked her all this. Her eyes were blazing with tears, but he saw that she was fighting hard to not to start crying in front of him. Her whole feature made him helpless. It rips his heart apart whenever he sees her crying, but now looking at her devastating feature, he became clueless as to what to do anymore. He sighed defeated as he laid his shaky palms over her cheeks, which made her tears fall on his hand. He released a shaky breath as he asked her in a soft voice,

"Kane, you don't have ya worry for nothing.. I am here with you now.. Please, help me to understand and talk to me.. Now tell me, You are not hurt, are you?"

This time though, she slowly moved her head 'no', making Ranma sigh with relief. He gave her a small smile as he bumped his head with hers, as he whispers to her,

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Tomboy. Would you stop doing this ta me?"

Ranma closed his eyes as her breath washes over his face. He savored the feeling of their closeness when suddenly he heard Dr Tofu talking,

"Kasumi, I have talked with the officers, they said that they can't do anything about the Dojo right now, we have to wait until morning comes."

Hearing him say all that, Ranma slowly turned to them and for he first time since he arrived, he noticed the scenario around him. He looked with awe that the Dojo was completely shattered. But he felt relief when he saw the house was not that much destroyed, only the pillars of the front porch fell off completely. Then again he heard them saying,

"It's okay, dear. But, we could stay in our house, right?" Kasumi asked Tofu with a hopeful tone.

Akio cleared his voice and looked at Ranma and Akane, then he turned to Kasumi and said,

"About that, sorry, but you guys can't stay at the house before the inspection happens."

"Yes, Kasumi, it's not safe after what had happened.." Tofu said while fixing his glasses.

"Oh my! Then what will we do now, father?!" Kasumi asked worriedly as she looked at her father's direction.

Ranma saw as Soun looked down, unable to give any answer to her. Then he felt Akane clutching to his hand tightly. He immediately turned to look at her and when he saw the look on her face while she was listening to them, her blazing eyes were unmoving as it looked at their father to answer Kasumi's question. Ranma greeted his teeth in frustration, he was getting angry at them for stressing about the matter in the first place. Then suddenly he heard Akio saying,

"If you guys don't mind then.."

But before he could finish his talking, they all saw Ranma suddenly stands up as he carried Akane bridal style. Akane looked at him with wide surprised eyes as she hooked her arms around his neck. Then she heard him saying to all of them,

"This is the least thing you guys should worry about for the moment. Kasumi one-chan, you guys are coming with me."

"But, Ranma.." Kasumi tried to say but stopped when she felt a soft touch over her shoulder. She turned and saw Nodoka giving her a warm smile.

"Ranma is right! You guys shouldn't worry about that."

"Yes, Tendo. Now don't look this sad. We will figure something out soon.." Genma said while putting his hand over Soun's shoulder.

Akane was quite all the time, she looked down as she gripped Ranma's front tank top tightly.

Then she heard him saying to them,

"I think we guys should leave this place now. You all need rest."

"Yes, I agree with you , Ranma." Tofu said as he held Kasumi's hand, "You guys go with Ranma and leave everything to us. We will take care of everything.. Nothing is left to take care of, anyway. Everyone will leave soon too."

Ranma nodded at Tofu's direction and started walking ahead while carrying Akane with him. They all started following him as they slowly made their way to the Saotome house.

They all were silent when they were walking towards the house, the only sound that came was their footsteps. Ranma readjusted Akane on his arms and peeked at her. He saw her looking down, not reacting at all. They all soon reached the Saotome house and went inside.

After entering, Ranma lets everyone enter first and when they all went inside, he asked Akane with a soft tone,

"Ya sure ya can manage, Kane?"

Akane nodded her head, still not looking at him. He sighs and slowly puts her down. Then he held her hand as he took her inside the living room and heard the others talking,

"Oh no, Auntie! You don't have to make anything for us…"

"Nonsense! I can always fix a quick dinner.."

"I know, Nodoka. But you don't have to bother.." Soun tried to say.

"Yes, Auntie. All we need now is to freshen up and take some nap. That will fix everything." Kasumi said while giving her a small smile.

"Okay, dear… I am sorry that we have so little space in this house. But I am sure we all can manage.. " Nodoka said with worry in her eyes.

"Of course, we can manage!" Ranma declared cheerfully to change the atmosphere as he dragged Akane with him, "We stayed together for four long years Mom! Give us a small room, we can adjust there as a family in a matter of seconds.. We have more than enough rooms here."

"Oh my! Ranma, thank you." Kasumi said, becoming emotional at what he said.

"Aww, one-chan. Now stop crying.. Go and freshen up and we will arrange everything here." Ranma said while squeezing Akane's hand and grinning at them.

"Okay, Ranma. And one more thing, will you be kind and call Nabiki and inform her about our well-being?"

"Yeah, sure thing.."

"Thank you.." Kasumi smiled gratefully as she looked at her little sister standing beside Ranma with a down face. She sighed and went to her side and slowly puts her hand over her cheek as she said gently,

"Imouto, come with me. Let me help you freshen up.."

Saying that she held her shoulders and took her to the washroom accompanied by Nodoka. Ranma's eyes followed their retreating form, suddenly feeling lonely as Akane left his side. He sighs sadly and went to call Nabiki, who was studying abroad, to inform her about their stay in here.

Soon, everything settled down on the house. They have decided to make the two-room they have to divide as 'Guys room and Girls room'. Ranma was busy fixing the futon for both the rooms and the old guys were busy drinking their sorrow out in the living room. Ranma hurriedly finished fixing the bed in the girls room, he stood up smiling, satisfied with his work, then he turned to look at his side when he heard his mother rummaging in her dresser.

"What are ya looking for , Mom?"

Nodoka closed the door, two white kimonos in her hands as she looked at him and said while smiling,

"Oh, I was just giving them some change of clothes, dear.."

"Are you giving Akane your Kimono?"

"Oh, dear, I am sorry, but I don't have anything else to offer them."

Ranma paused for some moment, thinking, then he smiled and said,

"Wait here, Mom.." He hurriedly went outside and within seconds, bought his green night pyjamas with him.

"Here, Mom, take this and give it to her."

Nodoka was shocked to receive this from him. His gesture was so pure and innocent that she couldn't control the giddy feeling she was feeling at that moment. She was so touched at her son's act that she sighs and gives him a wide approving smile. Ranma noticed his mom's reaction and immediately became red with embarrassment, then he started stuttering out,

"Uhhmm.. It's not what it looks like mom.. Uhh.. I know that tomboy won't get any sleep with that Kimono on.. She is more comfortable in these sorta clothes.. So yeah.."

Nodoka's smile only widened at what he said, she giggled at him and shook her head saying,

"Oh Ranma, you can never fool your mother, dear. You really do care for her.."

Ranma tried to protest but stopped at the last second, he sighed and nodded his head. Then he again busied himself to do his work to fix the rooms for the residents.

They soon settled down quickly after that. The girls didn't waste any time and went to sleep soon after returning from the washroom. The guys also settled down and fell asleep as soon as their heads touched the pillow. But except for Ranma.

He growled in annoyance as he pulled his pillow up to his ear to stop hearing the extreme snoring sound coming from the two old drunk men beside him. He was getting frustrated, but not only for his companions, he just couldn't shrug off the heaviness of his heart for some reason. Akane looked so depressed and broken. She didn't even talk to anyone nor did she reacted. He opened his eyes and thought to himself,

'Why does she look so disturbed? I know that it's not a simple thing that just happened today, but Kasumi is reacting more calmly than her.. And why is she avoiding looking at me? Is she… Is she upset that she had to come and live here? No.. That can't be true.. But what if… I need ta talk to her.. I can't sleep without knowing if this is what is bothering her.. But I can't talk to her right now, she might be asleep.. .. I think I should wait till the morning comes.. Yes! That's it, first thing in the morning I'm gonna ask that tomboy what's bothering her so much.. She shouldn't be bothered because she had to stay with me again..How could she be uncomfortable by the fact that she had ta stay with me! What the! I think I am overthinking stuff, I will try to sleep and wait for the morning, then I will ask that tomboy..'

Ranma took some deep breaths and tried to concentrate on falling asleep as soon as he could. Time passed but he still laid with the same thoughts running to his brain.

'Oh man! I won't get any sleep at this rate..!'

He sits up quickly on his futon growling annoyingly. Then flopping his pillow at his side, he as quietly as possible went outside his room by the window. Praying one thing in his mind that his tomboy would choose to sleep at the last corner of the futon which is closer to the window, so that it would make his job easier to call her...

A/N: Hello my lovely readers :) .. I still can't believe that I have managed to post it today.. But one thing I know is that, if i hadn't posted it today, I wouldn't have manage to post it for one more week! I am so sleepy and tired right now! I want to thank all of you for your beliefs in me. That's what made me post it now despite being tired.. (5th time yawning! I think I should stop babbling and doze off!) Okaiiiii please don't forget to leave a comment.. I will (yawn) try to post soon zzzzzzzzzzzz...