Ranma looked up from the T.V. and frowned at the sound of the front door. "I'm going to Dr. Tofu's. I'll be back for supper. Okay?" Akane's voice bounced around the house.
Damn it! It was bad enough that the tomboy wasn't talking to him. Lately, she went around trying to avoid him, too! The frustrating thing was that he couldn't figure out why. If he only knew, maybe he could fix it. He couldn't do a very good job of protecting her if she wouldn't cooperate. Worse yet, it hurt to be pushed away so.
Ranma sighed to himself as he rose and quickly exited by way of the porch. Once there, he took a moment to draw into himself into a strange sloth like stance and slowly faded from view.
Wrapped in the Umisenken, Ranma leaped lightly to the top of the border wall, then from there to a neighboring rooftop. Catching sight of the youngest Tendo walking down the street, Ranma glanced around for possible threats, then cautiously followed.
Akane strode purposely toward her destination. She knew she was taking a risk, but it had to be done. She had no illusions about evading her sister's and Ranma's attention, should she draw their interest. Therefore, she wanted to complete her visit quickly and without fuss.
Akane turned smartly into a small building sporting signs advertising chiropractic, acupuncture, and moxibustion services, and exchanged her shoes. Seated inside was a middle aged woman accompanied by a small animal carrier. Akane smiled and bowed in greeting. "Hello Yamaguchi-san. Thank you for all your trouble to take care of our piglet and bring him here."
"Oh, it's no problem Akane-chan. I'm glad to do so." the woman returned Akane's greeting. "He's been such a dear, the most intelligent little piglet! Won't you sit down while we wait?"
At that moment the inside door to the waiting room opened, and a tall, kindly faced young man in round spectacles emerged. "Ah! I see you've both arrived! Thank you for coming! Yamaguchi-san, please make yourself comfortable. Akane, will you please bring him back to the examination room?"
As Akane closed the door to the room, Tofu directed a piercing gaze at the animal carrier in Akane's hand, seeing, perhaps, more then was physically visible. "Akane, I can see that that is a most unusual pig. Please help buta-san out of the carrier and put him up on the exam table. Now, why don't you tell me what's going on."
"A moment, please sensei." Akane deferred as she carefully lifted the bandanna clad piglet onto the table. "May I give this brush and ink and paper to Ryoga? Then he can tell you himself."
Tofu fiddled with his skeleton, Betty, as he considered. "Well, Hibiki-san, I don't know yet what we can do. I'll have to do some research. From your symptoms, you appear to be suffering under several extremely rare acupuncture or moxibustion techniques, and at least one, possibly two curses of magical origin."
Tofu paused momentarily and marshaled his thoughts. "For the moment, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to be patient. As soon as I know for certain what has happened, I can try to work on a cure. From what you and Akane have said, you have a safe place to stay, correct?"
Ryoga grunted and nodded in acknowledgment.
Outside the exam room near the window, a hard faced, pigtailed young man leaned back against the wall and tuned out the quiet conversation filtering from inside the clinic.
Ranma was no longer bothering with the Umisenken. Instead, he was plunged deeply into the soul of ice. He knew that otherwise his aura would be easily detectable by Dr Tofu, not to mention any other Ki adept within a hundred miles or so of the greater Tokyo area. Even if the good doctor had tried specifically to ignore anything outside the room, his aura setting the office on fire would certainly draw attention.
You see, Ranma was angry. And not just a little angry. In fact, saying Ranma was angry would be like saying that Krakatoa was a little disturbance, or that a category 5 hurricane was a little breezy.
What the hell was Akane doing? Here he goes way out of his way to eliminate one of the bigger problems they ever experienced, and he does it quietly and without fuss, and what does the ungrateful tomboy do? Rescue the twit! That's what! And not only did she rescue the ass, but she'd been spending time with the pig and avoiding him like the plague!
Well, now at least Ranma knew where he stood with her. Maybe after a while he could get over the angry and experience the hurt, but for right now, he just needed to get out of there. He wasn't about to do anything in front of Tofu, at least not yet. Tofu was probably good enough to at least delay him from taking the needed action, even if he couldn't stop him. The next time, though, the next time ...
As for Akane ... he was mad. He had never been this mad with her. How could she betray him this way? The only thing holding him back right now was Nabiki's warnings to stay out of sight.
He had to get out of here. Akane would have to take care of herself for a bit. Well, at least the pig couldn't hurt her at the moment. Ranma pushed himself up with a jerk, and triangle jumped up to the top of the building and away.
A moment later, the window was pushed open, and Dr Tofu put out his head and looked around. "That's odd, I could have swore I heard something out here."
"Alright! Where the hell are you hiding the porker!" The door to the dining room slammed open, heralding the arrival of a vibratingly angry Ranma-onna. She had spent the last few hours trying to run out her anger, frustration and depression, to little avail. Predictably, she had been splashed. It was a measure of her emotional state that it didn't even occur to her to get hot water immediately on arriving home.
Angry, frustrated, and rejected, by turns, flaming hot and ice cold inside, she was determined that the pig would fry. By this time Ryoga was perhaps little more than an outlet for her frustration. It might not make complete sense, but Ranma was operating emotionally, not rationally.
The other occupants of the dining room variously looked up in surprise, or in two cases, flinched.
The first to respond, predictably, was Nabiki. "What are you talking about, Saotome?"
Ranma merely pointed accusingly at Akane. "The pig. You had him. Where is he?"
"You tried to kill him! You locked his curse and tried to kill him!" Akane surprised herself by her outburst, but her own anger, stubbornness, and sense of fair play overrode her fear. While she wasn't entirely certain Ranma wouldn't really hurt her, at the moment, she didn't care.
Ranma's teeth audibly ground together, and she took a deep, shuddering breath, before visibly loosing the battle for control and screaming at Akane at the top of her lungs. "OF COURSE WE TRIED TO KILL HIM! THE ASSHOLE TRIED TO KILL ME! SEVERAL TIMES! AND YOU DON'T EVEN WANNA KNOW WHAT HE WOULD DO TO YOU!"
"Ranma!" Nabiki's sharp interjection cut the redhead off mid-tirade. She turned toward her black haired sister and continued in the same clipped tones, a grim expression on her face. "Imoto, am I to understand that you rescued that pig? Do you even know what you've done?"
"No, that would have been me." Kasumi interjected herself into the proceedings in her own quiet but firm way. "And I know exactly what I've done. In this case, I've saved a person from being unjustly murdered by my own sister."
Nabiki was obviously taken aback, but managed to rally herself before Ranma could again forcibly inject herself. Nabiki knew that if any semblance of control was to be maintained here, she would have to ride herd on her sometime partner. Even so, she couldn't help but respond to the emotional hurt from her respected elder sister.
"Unjust! You call that unjust! How can you say that! You have no idea what he's done, or even worse, what he was going to do!"
"That's exactly my point, Nabiki." The use of her given name was as a slap to the face. "He's not yet done it. Who knows? Given a chance, perhaps he wouldn't. He needs to be given that chance."
This time Ranma spoke out before Nabiki could interject. "Don't you see! Don't any of you see! It's for YOU damn it! If we don't do this, we know what happens to you! We're doing our kami damned best to help, and then you go and RUIN it!"
The teacup in Akane's hand finally shattered from the stress she put on it, drawing attention back to her. "No, I don't see! I don't see where you two get off being such high and mighty BITCHES, and going around KILLING people! Like what you did to Kuno wasn't bad enough! He'll never be able to hold a sword again!" She looked down at the blood slowly dripping from her hand. "I'm going to go bandage this, and I think I'm going to go stay over with that poor boy you locked as a pig. At least I know I can trust him. And as for you," here she glared at Ranma, then at Nabiki, "I have no desire to consort with murderers."
"Here, let me help you with that, little sister, and I'll escort you." Kasumi rose with Akane and left the room with her, deliberately directing her gaze away from Ranma and Nabiki, snubbing them.
"God DAMN it!" Ranma snarled and punched the table, cleanly breaking it in two and somehow shattering all the remaining tableware at the same time. "A bitch! Where does she get off calling me a bitch!"
The remaining occupants had merely scooted back from the remains of the table. Genma was by far to intimidated to speak out, and the occasional spine Soun had shown was nowhere to be found. Both the fathers made a quiet fade from the room, to regroup at the nearest bar.
Ranma and Nabiki exchanged no further words. After the front door was heard to open and shut, Ranma left the mess to head toward the hot kettle kept on the stove, and Nabiki eventually rose for her room.
The house was quiet.
Ranma angrily tossed and turned on his futon. How dare they! Didn't they see! All the crap they went through, and this is how they're treated! How could Akane say those things to him!
Nabiki too, took no rest, disturbed by her own thoughts and anger. Eventually, she sighed, and gave up sleeping for now.
An idea came to her, and she gave it her normal, due consideration. Everyone was gone, there should be no risk, and she didn't really want to be alone tonight, not when there was at least one person who could understand.
Ranma's internal monologue was interrupted when the door to his room was slid open. Outside, he could see the kneeling silhouette of the middle Tendo daughter. Nabiki slid inside, still in seiza, and closed the door behind her.
Several hours later, the door to the by now silent room slid open again, although only a small amount. The eldest Tendo sister gazed with an unreadable expression at the entangled, sleeping, pair in front of her, barely covered by the blanket, before closing the door.
Along the route to Furinkan high school, a small group of teenagers proceeded toward school carrying their bookbags, heavy with books and notes. That was not the only burden they carried however. A moving knot of almost palpable tension and anger weighed them down more than any physical burden.
As far ahead of her companions as she could get, Tendo Akane stomped along in a chill disdain, her long blue black hair bobbing purposefully. Not quite losing sight of her, Saotome Ranma strode along the top of a chain link fence separating the quiet street from the canal it paralleled. On the ground beside him walked his co-conspirator and Akane's older sister Nabiki.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the distance between them, the group of them strode in a silence broken only by the soft sound of their footsteps and the swishing of their clothes. It seemed that even the normal city noise, never truly absent in such as hugely populated area as Tokyo, had receded, leaving them in a bubble of isolation.
Even as frustrated and angry as he felt, Ranma still considered it his duty to guard the younger Tendo. As was now a habitual precaution, he made use of his vantage point to scan the surrounding area, looking for potential surprises. He even went so far as to periodically leap ahead a short distance and pause. Then, while waiting for Nabiki to catch him up, he would momentarily allow himself to be still and merely feel for hostile intent in the area. Hostile intent other than the Tendo sisters' or his own, of course.
Even if he wasn't really only looking for threats, there were still a few other things he felt. He was, of course, familiar with the feel of the two Tendos, but something was off with that feeling, moreso than the disgust underlying Akane's anger. It was, hmm, almost had it, it was, there! It was Nabiki?
As the teens turned the gate into their school, Ranma remarked, "Nabiki, you feeling okay? There's something weird with your ki. It's like you've got another source of it, or something. It ain't very big, comparing, but still."
Dismissing the issue now that he had mentioned it, Ranma exchanged his shoes and followed the younger Tendo's trail to class. Nabiki, on the other hand, stood in thought for a bit, puzzling out the meaning of Ranma's cryptic statement. It wasn't much of a clue, but Nabiki's nimble mind quickly assembled that and other clues into a conclusion she found distasteful. A sudden flash of recognition and dread flooded her face at the realization.
Slamming her mask back into place, Nabiki scribbled a note and summoned the nearest student. "You. Miazaki. Take this to the school office. I've got something to do. Tell Saotome too."
Leaving the quavering student, Nabiki turned and strode out the gate in her normal, cold, manner. Almost. An alert observer, familiar with her habits, would note the hand she uncharacteristically rested on her abdomen.
Tendo Soun, patriarch of clan Tendo, sat at the go board across from his dear friend and old training partner, and brought his wandering attention back to the game. To all appearance deep in concentration, he stared at the board. Hmmm ... his attention had not been on the game, and his position showed it. This called for desperate measures.
Suddenly pointing behind his partner, currently a panda, Soun exclaimed, "Saotome! Look out! The Master!"
As he hoped, the panda reacted in a panic, twisting around and groveling on the floor and holding up several poorly written signs. Soun didn't bother to try to read them, but instead put his speed and precision training to good use.
"Oh, sorry, my friend, it was only a circus midget. Your turn, I believe." Soun muttered a moment later.
The panda grunted and heaved itself upright, waving a sign which read "Don't do that to me, Tendo!" before googling it's eyes at the radically changed position on the board.
Sitting back on his cushion, Soun sighed. The game was unfortunately serving as little distraction today. He idly watched Genma panda employ a clumsy distraction technique of his own and use his presumed inattention to rearrange the board. But, as had happened for several moves now, he just couldn't bring himself to care, even though the distractions were steadily, and obviously, declining in quality.
The panda appeared to stare carefully at the man across from it, before pulling out a somewhat more carefully written sign, which read, "Is something wrong, old friend?"
Soun slowly began taking the stones off the board and putting them away. He continued to do so for a few moments before quietly responding, "Our families are hardly joining in the manner that we wished, my friend. More importantly to me, my daughters seem to be experiencing a large rift between them. Last night was merely the most public display of disharmony. Had you noticed?"
The panda slowly shook its head. Soun gave a small, bitter, smile and a quiet nod. Genma always had been considerably less observant than he. Even if he frequently gave the appearance of obliviousness, his middle daughter's sharpness had been come by honestly. His ignorance was largely willful, not forced.
"When you first arrived, things were going well indeed. Your son was spending time with each of my daughters, and they all appeared to be enjoying his company. Recently, though ..."
"Recently though what, Tendo-san?" a melodious female voice continued after a moment. Soun turned his head to see a formally dressed, attractive, auburn haired woman, kneeling by the veranda screen she was in the act of closing.
"Please forgive my interruption, Tendo-san" Saotome Nodoka smiled gently and made a graceful apologetic gesture. She continued her speech as she slid next to her currently pandified spouse, "I was just coming in, and I couldn't help but overhear your comment."
The panda grunted in greeting, and somehow made the appearance of being simultaneously pleased and nervous at the woman's presence. Nodoka merely smiled fondly at her husband, and gestured for Soun to proceed.
"That's quite alright Saotome-dono. You were, after all, expected. I trust that you were able to arrange for your absence as you had hoped?"
"The charities I volunteer at were very understanding. After all, I have not seen my son or husband for many years, and the opportunity to spend time with them is not to be passed up." Nodoka paused briefly and turned the conversation back to the original topic. "But what seems to be the problem Tendo-san?"
"There has been a great deal of tension recently between various of our children. So much so that I fear it threatens the pact between our families. It appears that some of my daughters believe your son to be, perhaps, overzealous in his protection. Last night, matters came to somewhat of a head over supper, and, well ..."
Soun gestured at the outer wall of the compound, where the remains of the split table rested, next to a box full of ceramic fragments.
"It ended with an accusation of of nothing less than murder. Ill received, as you see."
Nodoka allowed a small frown to cross her features. "This is indeed most serious, Tendo-san. Perhaps I should speak with him this afternoon."
The panda and the man exchanged glances and shrugged. Why not? Then they wouldn't have to do it. Of course, it wasn't that they were unwilling to (cough cough), but a mothers hand was often best, right?
"Hmm ... perhaps the three of us should meet him here? It seems a fairly neutral location."
The fathers exchanged looks again and silently groaned as they realized that they would be unable to escape that easily.
Damn, Damn DAMN it! She really didn't need this shit right now! Nabiki stared down at the colored strip of paper in her hand in dismay.
Of course, she had missed her period at least twice in a row now, but she thought nothing of it. Her recent periods had been more than erratic anyway, especially during the stress and activity of their private war in China and the events leading up to it.
Finally sighing in resignation, Nabiki began to clean herself and the fortunately deserted department store restroom up. Well, she had been aware of a clinic specializing in such matters for some time, and known people who had used them. Given the right inducement, she knew she could even have the matter handled this afternoon.
After all, what other choice had she? A pregnancy, now, was the last thing she or Ranma needed, right?
"Ranma, it is not appropriate for you to treat people so callously when they have yet to commit any crime!" a soft, but stridently firm voice stated. The speaker was not in sight, but it nonetheless carried to the entryway.
"That's right boy," a basso grumble vibrated. "I didn't raise you to be a common criminal."
"Mom, I told ya, he attacked me first! And I told you what he did to me an 'Kane! And you, Ojayi! Shut yer thieving trap! Or you wanna explain to Mom what you based the senkens on?" Ranma's voice had a definite edge to it.
Nabiki groaned while she slowly and awkwardly exchanging her shoes for house slippers, supporting herself with one hand against the wall. She hurt inside, dammit. She had been leaking occasional tears all the way home, from the ache, she told herself, and knew her face to be a fright. In addition, any half competent martial artist, even her sister, would near instantly pick up on how tenderly she moved.
Confusing feelings kept bubbling up despite her normal control, and she just didn't feel in balance.
She really, really, didn't want to deal with this right now.
Well, there was no help for it. Following the voices, she set down the schoolbag she still carried in the dining room, and slowly proceeded out the open veranda door where she heard the argument going on.
A quick glace revealed the situation. As the tidbits of conversation had indicated, Ranma's mother had returned to their home. She had earlier mentioned arranging to spend time with them when they had first met in this timeline. Unfortunately, backed by her own and Ranma's fathers, Nodoka appeared to be confronting Ranma.
As yet unnoticed by these participants, Nabiki gratefully took the opportunity to sink to her knees and rest. It would be prudent to observe for a moment and gather her wits before jumping into the confrontation. Unfortunately for Nabiki, she never got the chance to do so.
"I don't care. I'm not going to let any of that shit happen to you. I'm going to do what I need to protect you, no matter what." Ranma had just stated. He turned to Nabiki, surprising her, and continued, "Look, you explain it Nabiki."
Apparently she had made some involuntary noise as she knelt. At any rate, the attention of the family was now drawn to her. But before she could gather her wits and respond, a voice she had not noted before interjected.
"Yes Nabiki. Perhaps you can explain why you two would deliberately cripple a poor boy. Why you would arrange to publicly humiliate your classmates and have them committed. Perhaps you can explain why you and your lover would callously steal someones very humanity, and arrange to have a man murdered in cold blood. Why would one who was once my sister bring shame and dishonor to our family."
If Nabiki had not been so emotionally fragile, if she were less tired, or if she were more mentally alert, then she might have been impressed at how much bile was packed into those few, short, sentences. She hadn't thought Kasumi would have had it in her. She might not have been able to do that herself even on her best day.
If she were less tired, or more alert, even as emotionally hurt as she was by her sister, she might not even have seriously screwed up. But she was tired, fragile, and not thinking clearly. As it was, she didn't even notice that her first instinct was to reassure her partner.
"It's okay Ranma. I won't stop you and..." here she gestured at Akane. "I had it aborted."
It was only then that she realized what she had just admitted to, and further, what aborting a possible heir said of her attitude to the Tendo - Saotome pact.
If she had kept the abortion quiet, as she intended, even if the others had found out it might have been ignored. Bringing it up in this context, however, in a way even flaunting it, it was no less than a direct attack on the honor involved in the Tendo - Saotome arrangement. Pile that on top of the argument they were already having, and well, reactions would not be good.
Nabiki was too tired to do more than drop her gaze as the expressions of the adults around her hardened.
Later that evening, in a deserted lot some distance from the Tendo Dojo, still well within Nermia proper, two figures could be seen huddled near a small fire.
Ranma poured a cup of tea from a kettle hanging over a small fire. Nudging Nabiki to get her attention, he handed her the cup, ignoring the small tremble in her hands. After she had taken a few sips, he gently nudged the tired girl into the small tent pitched behind them.
Ranma sighed. He hadn't thought their families would react this badly, but ... Where in the world could they go now?
It was going to be a long night. He wished he could see the stars.
Authors notes
I realized as I was writing this that I have neglected to interject Nodoka anywhere into these last chapters. It's an oversight on my part, that I don't think I could address sans a rewrite. Gomen.
Authors notes
Well, another chapter for your enjoyment. I hope you don't read this slower than I wrote it. :-)