Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own any of the characters used within this story. All characters belong to their respected creators, which is obviously not I.
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A Life Lost
Chapter Three
Fresh Start
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Hinata Inn.
Finally.
He had found the place.
Letting out a small smile of relief, Ranma quickly jogged the last few steps up the stairs. Already he could feel a sense of joyfulness begin to fill his mood, indicating that cherished memories must have occurred here for the body he currently inhabited. His smile could only grow wider as he approached the entranceway with a hand raised to slide the glass door open.
The motion never came.
Or, at the very least, he had thought of opening the door before his eyes had caught the words on a nearby sign.
It read:
[Women's Only Dormitory, Hinata Inn]
….
Ranma resisted the urge to shiver at the possible implications this could mean for him. It was quite a predicament.
Fresh start, fresh start, fresh start.
A breath in.
A breath out.
Squaring his determination, Ranma decided not to let this deter him. He was someone else now and not all girls were like his fiancés – most notably Akane.
Still, it doesn't hurt to be cautious.
Better safe than sorry.
Not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Calling the kettle black or… something like that.
Opting instead, as a precaution of course, Ranma went with another alternative.
Raising a loosely held fist he then knocked.
And knocked.
And knocked.
Well that was pretty anticlimactic.
That was the first thought. The next was how he actually knew what the word anticlimactic meant. Afterwards, his thoughts turned to how all that studying was really starting to pay off.
Wait, when have I studied?
Unsure of what else to do or think of, Ranma simply stood there with a bit of a dumbfounded look settled upon his face. The wait didn't come much longer as his stomach quickly voiced its discontent.
I… haven't eaten yet since I've gotten this body.
Sweat dropping slightly at his own foolishness, Ranma ran a hand through his hair as he thought. He remembered seeing a tea shop or something of the like at the bottom of the hill.
The growling continued.
Hopefully something there could help stave off his hunger Ranma thought almost wistfully before taking off back down the stairs.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Not much time passed after Ranma left before a shapely figure had appeared behind the glass doors. The person obviously took their time slouching about before finally sliding the door open and stuck a head out.
The individual's features were distinctively female despite the somewhat boyish hair cut she sported. And her eyes were squinted in a way that you couldn't even tell if they were truly opened or not. With an eyebrow raised the fox-like girl looked about for a while before mumbling softly to herself.
"I thought I heard someone."
Remaining silent as she stayed in the same position for a few seconds longer, the girl soon grinned when a thought came to mind.
"Oh well, back to my sake!" she sang-song before promptly shutting the door.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Meanwhile Ranma was seating himself inside the tea shop when a voice called out. Given the circumstances of the situation – the fact that he still answered to his original name – Ranma naturally ignored the voice.
Of course that was before Ranma figured that the voice was aimed at him, which he realized at the sudden appearance of a certain individual standing by his table.
"Keitaro. I asked, what are you doing here?"
Looking up Ranma saw a woman older than him waiting expectantly for an answer. Her arms were crossed, as if in annoyance of having to repeat herself, but she seemed to give off an air of indifference.
However, Ranma knew better.
Through years of irking people – a talent that even rivaled his martial art skills – Ranma could tell from the slight tensing of the woman's jaw that she wasn't particularly happy that he had unintentionally blew her off those few seconds earlier.
Shrugging off his initial reaction to apologize, Ranma continued to stare dumbly at the woman as he tried to pinpoint the sudden familiarity of her face.
"Obasan?" he muttered somewhat hesitantly.
A quick whap to the back of the head was her response.
"Don't call me that, Haruka's fine. And you're a bit young to already be losing your memories. Now answer the question," the woman stated without pause as she crossed her arms once more.
Ranma simply eyed the paper fan that now rested clutched in the woman's right hand. The strike had come swiftly and the paper fan from nowhere. He fidgeted slightly at the thought of this life as another version of his own previous one. Before Ranma could contemplate any further a distinctive growl could be heard.
Haruka, the now identified woman, looked down slightly before lifting an eyebrow at the boy in front of her.
"Oh, well… I got hungry?" Ranma admitted sheepishly as he rubbed at one of his eyes.
Man, my eyes kinda sting a little for some reason.
That small action, however, greatly caught Haruka's focus as she stared intently at Ranma. Not wanting her sudden attention caught, nonetheless, Haruka continued on by acting unbothered of it all.
"I can hear that," she replied nonchalantly as she took out a pad and pencil, "And since no one else's around, what will it be then nephew of mine?"
-:-:-:-:-:-
After having served Ranma and stayed around cleaning some random tables for awhile, Haruka had finally left him be as she went and entered the small office she had in the back. There were some things she wanted to reflect upon without the disturbance of her nephew's eating habits. She never knew that he could eat so much, but that wasn't the point.
Shaking her head softly as she focused back at the task at hand, Haruka strode over to her desk before bending slightly to open the small drawer at the side. It was then that she took out a small book before flipping intensively through its contents.
And there it is.
She was unsure; not quite satisfied at what she found. She let the book drop, a clatter sounding as it hit the top of the desk, then allowed herself to fall back onto the chair behind her. Placing her hands underneath her chin as she leaned forward against the desk, Haruka pondered some more. She was absolutely certain that she was correct, but it seemed that her memories must be failing her.
Lying open before her was the book with an inserted photograph of a young Keitaro smiling stupidly at the camera with, a not much changed, Grandma Hina standing beside him.
That in itself wasn't odd, except for the fact it showed that his eyes were blue. And Haruka was positive that they weren't before.
Her thoughts were broken however at the sounds of a fax machine coming to life.
Walking over to brief a look at the contents being printed out, Haruka couldn't help but raise an eyebrow up in curiosity.
"What are you up to now?" she murmured.
-:-:-:-:-:-
It had been a while now since Haruka had left him alone to eat.
And eat he did.
But, of course, that didn't mean he didn't notice the other things that went on around him. Such as how his supposed aunt would sneak in glances when she thought he wasn't aware of them. And, though he didn't appear to be, Ranma was inwardly freaking out. The only times he knew of when a girl would secretly look at him was because she liked him. That or he had something on his face, but he was pretty sure his face was clean.
Again he resisted the urge to shiver.
Besides, she was suppose to be his aunt therefore she was family.
And family members wouldn't think about each other like that, right?
-:-:-:-:-:-
Somewhere out there a girl had suddenly sneezed.
"A cold?" asked the elderly woman next to her.
"I'm sure it's nothing obaasan."
-:-:-:-:-:-
"So you're here for Hinata Inn right?"
Jolted out his thoughts Ranma looked up to see Haruka approaching. As she did, the woman quickly hid the surprise off her face at the fact that he was practically finished with everything he ordered. An order she took not some time ago.
A nod of his head was given as an answer as Ranma took a sip from his drink.
"You should know that the place isn't as you remembered. It's an all-girls dormitory now," she plainly stated.
"Yeah, I saw the sign when I was up there earlier. I guess I was lucky no one was there, eh?" Ranma answered nervously as he gave a small but shaky smile.
Haruka could only shake her head at her nephew's dumb luck before taking off her apron and started moving about.
"Well I'll take you up there again. That way you could meet the girls."
"The girls?" Ranma questioned hesitantly.
The apron draped over one arm Haruka continued on walking as she answered, "The ones who currently reside there. That way no misunderstandings should occur," grabbing a coat off the hanger by the door as she spoke.
"Misunderstandings?" Ranma questioned once more as he got up and started to follow his aunt's lead.
His actions came to an abrupt stop though once Haruka turned and handed the apron over to him.
"But first you're going to clean up your own mess," the woman stated as she made a nod towards the table cluttered with various empty dishes.
Ranma only took the presented article of clothing as he sweat drop slightly at the seriousness in her voice. Nodding once to confirm his acceptance of the command – he didn't want to offend the woman – Ranma quickly got to work.
It didn't take long as Ranma had eaten just about everything – no crumbs withstanding – so he only needed to collect the barely dirty dishes and wash them. He was tempted to prolong his actions, however, when his thoughts strayed to what he had to do afterwards. The enticing idea was nevertheless remedied by the second whack at the back of the head for the day – courtesy of Haruka and her unusually hard paper fan.
It was then within reasonable time that everything was cleaned and put into place before Haruka put up the closed sign and locked the door.
Well, it's probably best to get it over with sooner than later, Ranma mused.
Whatever 'it' was specifically he didn't know.
But, boy, did he get a bad feeling about it.
For the third time Ranma resisted the urge the shiver.
To Be Continued…
Comments: I've actually finished this chapter some time long ago, but I was never really sure if I wanted to end the chapter at this spot. Yes, I know. Two months is kind of pushing it for mulling over what should be a simple decision on whether to add to this chapter or not. In the end, I decided not to. That's my explanation for why this chapter is somewhat bland with barely any excitement to it. Hopefully you all find the next chapter better, a bit at least?
Anyhow, I did actually checked for mistakes and whatnot as well from time to time – sometimes you notice things you don't before, weird no? I'm pretty sure I didn't quite catch every slip-up I probably made throughout this chapter though.
ADDED 08-23-09: I've just put up a poll on my profile regarding Ranma's name for this story. Let me know what you think here, there, anywhere?
Nysk: After reviewing chapter 2, I have to agree with you. It is jumpy. I should rewrite it and make the chapter flow better. And I will! When I feel up to the task and not procrastinating about, of course.
