A/N: kay! Chapter Four! Um, when I posted the story the first time, I didn't realize this chapter wasn't done, so I finished it. There's a bit more for those of you who've already read it.

As for some questions and comments in the reviews... I was asked if people that were sent to the Detention camps still had homes to go back to once the war was over... well, I can't tell you yet. You'll just have to see! But I promise you'll know. It was also brought to my attention that most of the Japanese American citizens were paying taxes to support the makings of certain arms the Japanese used against us. I am quite aware that a majority of Japanese Americans were not so innocent as we are led to believe. I didn't mean for it to seem like it was only the Americans who were at fault, because that is far from the truth.

What I am trying to say is that all though there were many guilty of treason there were also a number of them who were innocent. It may have been very near impossible to pick out the culprits from the crowd, but that doesn't put those who took no part in it any more at fault. Please understand. Now I ask that you all have patience while I develope the story a tad more. You see, I'm at the stage I like to cal the "beginning", and thus, I have both the "middle" and "end" to portray my point.

Disclaimer: don't make me repeat myself.

Chapter 4: Song of the Piper Boy

"Pipe my little piper pipe,
Play songs joy and songs of light,
For soon the laughter all falls down.
The sky's a bleedin' Air rings profound.
In comes the little soldier boy with all his little soldier toys,
Guns a swingin' Torches held high. I stand alone as friends will die.
Till this day I wait for you,
Watching from the sky so blue.
And forever shall I wait,
Lingering before celestial gate.
Forever shall I love you true,
My piper boy I watch for you." - By author

It was simply a miracle that Akane and Nabiki had been housed together. There was no other way to explain it. Many of the family members had been split apart and housed on opposite ends from each other. Of course they could just switch places with another occupant to house with family, but there was only space enough for a certain number of adults and children, as well as the soldier's claim that it was a necessity to the insurance that all occupants were present and residing where they could easily be found.

Kasumi had been stationed somewhere towards the other side of the Assembly center, and had preceded there solemnly, promising quietly to come back and say hello once she was unpacked. Akane was anything but happy at the prospect of being separated from her sister any longer, Kasumi being the closest thing to a mother she had since the death of her official one.

A sudden thought occurred to her as the two sisters began to unpack. Akane exclaimed into the silence of the tiny room, "Oh, what about father, Nabiki? Do you think they've sent him here too? Oh, they must have! Where else would he be?" Nabiki looked stunned for a moment, but quickly gained her composure. "Akane, sis, don't get your hopes up. He wasn't doing very well when he left, and think what might have...er... effected him where he was staying." No use taking any chances. Akane was still so delicate after everything she saw at home... one slip of the mouth and she would totally loose it.

Nabiki took a quick look at Akane's face and immediately regretted saying what she had. Her younger sibling's eyes were downcast, brimming with tears and disappointment. "Hey, I could be wrong, right? No use getting all excited... why don't we go take a look, eh? I'm sure if he's here, we'll find him." At the words of her sister, Akane jumped up in excitement and raced toward the door, nearly pulling it off it's rusted hinges. She waited a minute or two before shouting back into the tiny shack, "Well, come on then, hurry up!" She shouted inside.

Nabiki emerged a moment later with her stony, neutral expression in place, even though she knew she would loose it in the face of her sister's disappointment when she found out he wasn't there.

Hopping out of the dusty jeep, Ranma made his way toward the back of the car, where his lonely pack and sleeping bag sat by themselves. He had driven up to the center by himself, deciding to take some time to discuss with himself the importance of his job, and deciding on the fact that he just needed to put a clamp on his conscience until this war was over and done with.

"That's right now, be a good little soldier and do the big guy's bidding..." He hadn't much of a choice anyway.

"Soatome, Sir! There's been a request for your presence in the south side of camp, Sir. Something regarding a refugee, Sir!" Ranma sighed and turned to face the eager young man. He smiled somewhat forced at him and responded, "On my way. Tell them I'll be there in a minute." The soldier brought a hand to his forehead in a sloppy salute. "Sir!" And dashed off in the direction he had come from.

"Request... I just got here... can't these fools do anything on their own?" But he threw his pack and sleeping bag on his shoulder and headed down the trail the soldier had just left by, grumbling incoherently all the way.

The Tendo girls had been searching for over an hour at each sign hanging upon every rotting cabin. Akane's happy outlook had long since diminished, and she was beginning to take on a more somber appearance. What if he really wasn't there? Where could they have taken him? Was he even alive after all those months in... who knows where?

"Nabiki! Oh, Nabiki you were right! He's not here! He might even... even be..." She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, as if the mentioning of it might be a jinx sending him straight to his death bed. Just then, there was a muffled conversation steadily gaining volume just around the corner. It seemed some soldiers had a refugee under a sharp eye. They were heading around the corner now.

"D-daddy? Daddy, it's you!" Akane exclaimed in unbelieving joy, nearing the withered man. He looked near death as it was, but the joy in his eyes broke out at the sight of his daughters . He grinned happily, not saying a word, and suddenly the decrepit looking man was a whole ten years younger. He was with his family again, that's all that matters.

"My Daughters!" He bellowed in glee, and struggled against the arms that held him, gaining a swift twist of the arm. Akane stood transfixed with shock, while Nabiki stood not too far behind, her mouth open slightly as her eyes began to glisten.

This was impossible... it was a one-in-a-million chance that he had been transported to this camp, and even more shocking still was that he was sent to the camps at all, that he was still even alive. It was a miracle.

Akane couldn't speak. She stood stalk-still, not thinking, nor moving, nor hardly breathing. It was him. It was really her daddy, and he was back with them again. He was still alive, they were together again. Without knowing it, her feet began toward them at such a pace, she didn't even realize she had moved until she was nearly upon them. The men around him, which she hadn't taken much notice to prior to now, looked tense and bothered. She hardly noticed, nor cared when a stiff hand went automatically toward the gun at his side.

What the hell was going on here? Ranma watched with glazed eyes at the scene before him. They had been escorting that sick man to the infirmary beds, when suddenly they turned a corner, and there she was. Akane. That girl. She... she said... daddy? This frail old man who was considered so dangerous a criminal that even when flanked by several armed guards was still a threat? And he, Ranma, happened to be the lucky man in charge of the entire operation.

It was then he took notice of the tense guards with their guns aimed toward the happy pair. Akane was so close to him, the sick man who was so weak and malnourished that he could hardly lift his fragile head to notice his daughter was in danger. The only clue that he even knew what was happening around him were his watery tears hitting the ground in an almost rhythmical pattern. The barely audible thump they created when then hit the dusty floor. The other woman whom had accompanied Akane looked on in momentary shock. Her calculating eyes widening with a silent terror. Her father was nearly dead. Her sister was nearing her own untimely demise.

Ranma considered the situation quickly before raising a calloused palm and signaling the soldiers at ease. There was no threat hear. The least they could do was give the people some privacy and get the old man to the infirmary for some light treatment before he died on them. That was the best he could do, and it made him feel so damn helpless. But he wasn't out of the fire yet. The guards he had called off looked at him suspiciously. He had just acted on his instincts and didn't stop to think how it would effect the trust he was supposed to gain from these men.

Quietly, he reached for the small gun he was to carry with him. Ranma was a deep believer in honor and fairness, and in his opinion, guns were for cowards with no skill. Of course, in warring times such as these, a man would be dead without one. He popped it out of it's holster and pointed it at Akane.

"Don't go near that man." His voice was harsh, and he nearly winced as the girl turned her tear-stained face to him. Their was shock written across it, and a lingering joy at seeing her father, but no fear. The woman had a gun aimed at her head and she couldn't so much as show a damned ounce of fear. There was something else in the depths of chocolate brown, something heart shattering. Beneath the folds of braveness and spunk, this girl held an overwhelming sadness in her heart. Sadness and guilt.

As soon as she registered the gun in his hand, something clicked. A movie played across her mind's eye, fully accompanied by every sensory detail. It was as if she was there again... watching her sickly father being shoved out the door, smiling bravely while telling them it was alright. He would be okay... they would all be okay. But she knew it wouldn't. She knew, as soon as they drove off with her father, nothing would be okay. Her family, her home... it couldn't protect her anymore. So she attacked them, charged them with every intention of ripping them apart, so long as they didn't take her daddy.

And there was a gun. That man, that despicable pig, was going to shoot her. Her throat clenched painfully and her eyes burned with tears. No one would take her daddy from her. Her ears throbbed with her own heart beat, and she could barely hear her father shout at her, her mother scream, and the thunderous bang as the gun went off. It was all so real... so unbelievably real. Blood was everywhere, staining her sweat pants, spilled across the tiled floor - Oh no... her mother had just cleaned that... and her hands! Her hands were a dark dark red, almost black if you didn't look hard enough. But there was no pain. Just an overwhelming sense of fear as she looked down in front of her as her mother clutched her legs, and spoke her final throaty words to her daughter who had killed her.

It was all Akane's fault, and she knew it. Her mother would have died knowing her daughter had killed her, and her daddy left her - hated her.

Ranma watched her every reaction through her eyes. Shock, anger, pain, sadness, and guilt. Akane dropped lifelessly to the dirt, clutching her chest where her heart would be. She closed her eyes, took a few gasping breaths, and whispered over and over to her self.

"No, daddy... daddy please don't hate me. I didn't want mamma to die.. I didn't mean... daddy please..." She hunched onto the floor and began heaving, dry coughs issued from the delicate child and she began vomiting uncontrollably.

Ranma didn't know what to do. It was the last reaction he had expected, and nearly everyone was shocked to utter silence. The old man whom he assumed was her father shook from silent sobs, and the guards stood motionlessly, watching the poor girl suffer.

Suddenly the other woman with short brown hair and a cold stare, was shook out of her own thoughts and strode swiftly past Ranma. He let her pass him and crouch next the sickened girl. Her hands hovered shakily above the younger ones shoulders uncertainly.

"Akane - Akane stop. Don't do this, please. Sis..." She choked off her next sentence as her voice began to crack. Akane's vomiting became less until she finally stopping, and began coughing once more. Her sister placed her hands - still shaking - upon her shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Ranma, not knowing what to do, lowered his gun hesitantly. He watched as the woman with cropped brown hair wiped her eyes and stood up slowly, bringing her shaken sister up with her. Akane kept her glistening eyes downcast and trembled helplessly while her sister looked Ranma straight in the eyes. Her eyes, though slightly bloodshot, were cold and hideously dangerous.

"Monster."

Her voice was soft and rough, and she kept his eyes locked on hers. An emotion he couldn't identify surged through his veins, along with a very familiar feeling of fury. He waved his soldiers to continue bringing the man to the infirmary, gave Akane one last suffering glance, and turned sharply on his worn black boots, sending a flurry of dust behind him as he strode forcefully after his soldiers.

I'd deeply enjoy hearing your voices in such matters as this story deals with, so feel free to review.