CH. 10: The Truth Comes Out

A/N: Okies, time for review replies *presses button and applause sign lights up*

Andrew: OMFG! You hit so close to the nail's head it's kinda scary. Ranma will have a kid, but he won't see it coming till she's already pregnant. If you go back to the part where Akari recieves her parents' memories, you will pretty much see an outline of what happens to lead up to the gender swap. Also, you are completely right, there will be some major repercussions within the Saotome family due to this. I'm glad that my way of handling Nabiki cused the right ammount of mystery. I never really liked her, so I feel just fine bashing her a bit.

Ranma-sama: Thanks for the kidn words! It's good to know people care *hugs*.

Crusincloud: Thanks for the alert

Tri-Emporer of the Twilight: Thank you for your kind words, and for the fave and story alerts.

Everyone: Thank you so much for your love and support. It's reviewers like you who make writing worth while. Special thanks also goes out to my beta, who makes my writing legible.

Poll Results:

I can honestly say I wasn't really expecting these results. I mean, I knew they would be popular, but not this much. 'A Shoulder To Cry On' and 'Wild Horse Effect' are in a tie for first place with five votes each. 'Can't Get That Here' is running a close second at four votes. 'Friends...or More' is pulling three, and 'A True Master' is bringing up the rear with one vote. I honestly didn't expect this distribution of votes. I figured there would be an obvious lead. If there is still a tie at the end of the poll, I will have to make a judgement call. Either I pick one (probably the one I have a more solid vision of) or possible work on both at once. Either way, this is an intense race, as four of the choices are only a vote or two off.

Ok, enough of my rambling, on with the story.

The silence was so thick it put Ranma's skull to shame. Even he though, grasped the gravity of the situation. "That aint possible, that would mean I would have had-" Ranma was cut off by a glare from Akari that promised untold pain and suffering if he wasn't quiet. Having only received it a few time from his mother, usually accompanied by the partial unsheathing of a katana, Ranma eeped and shut up. Akari herself was surprised it worked so well, having only received it a few times from her mother, and thus not being sure she could pull it off.

"As I was saying, my full name is Tendo Akari."

Goddess of Light(1) huh, guess Kuno-baka wasn't too far off. Thought Ranma.

"I'll start with why I am here. My… Ranma, was fighting a kami," here Ranma groaned not another one. " and my…other parent got… hit with one of the blasts." Akari's shoulders started to shake, "Ranma, unable to deal with the death, left the Tendo household." Akari tried to keep her expression schooled, but a few tears still managed to escape.

"As if the funeral wasn't sad enough," here tears started showing their presence in earnest, "I… I'm sorry, please give me a minute. " Akari turned around, trying to center herself again to keep going. Ranma and Akane gave her plenty of space. Hell, Ranma would have given here all the time in the world, had he mentioned how much he hated to see girls cry.

Akari, while not completely centered again, had managed to, at least temporarily, stem the tide of tears, and stop her shoulders from shaking. She turned around to face them again. "I…I received a letter, shortly after the funeral, stating mo…Ranma's intentions." Tears started to flow again. "Ranma couldn't stand being without…her, and decided to end…his life." Both of them took these pauses as emotional pauses, rather than the breaks to insert the, ehem, proper gender pronouns in that they were. "Mo…Ranma died, protecting me," A flash of the memory, from both of their perspectives, played through Akari's head, "…he chose to put himself below me when we both fell from a cliff, and the rocks at the bottom broke her spine, at least, that's what I was told." Tears were flowing down in little streams now. Ranma was thinking, done in by a fall, gods, if pops knew, I'd never hear the end of it. Akane however, was on a completely different thought path.

She was remembering the ice skating competition, as Ranma put himself behind her to save her from the fallout of the failed Couple Cleaver. She remembered not feeling much of the impact, and looking down at what she thought was a dead Ranma, sacrificing himself to save her. At that moment, she felt like something had died inside her. Luckily, Ranma had gotten back up, and she didn't have to deal with those emotions. The recoil of her emotions ended up coming out in anger, how dare he try to leave her alone like that, and continued to set them apart, but since Jusendo, they had gotten closer.

Akane looked up at Akari, remembering how she had felt after her mother died. Gods, what must it be like to watch both of your parents die in front of you, not to mention… that. Akane cringed away from even thinking of those emotions that she had felt after she and Ranma had hit the wall. Akari's voice, thick with tears as it was, broke both of them out of their own thoughts.

"I told you before that my other parent died from a stray energy blast, but that isn't quite true. I was about… five or six at the time. The god, or demi-god, as the case may be, Ka Yen, had finally tracked down…Ranma, and tried to attack mo…Ranma, for some sort of vengeance. Just as Ranma was winning, she shot a bolt of ki at me. Otou-san…" Akari broke down here, and it took her a few awkward minutes to get herself under control again. "… my parent jumped in front of me, the beam of ki… it pierced her heart." Akari lowered her head, her eyes closed, and swallowed, trying to get up the will to continue. She looked up and gazed into Akane's eyes with her own, and Akane saw pain that shouldn't have been present in a child so young. "Akane… it was you."

Akari hurried on, not letting the information fully sink it. "Chaos-sama stepped in and took a hand in… for lack of a better term, rewriting history," she paused for a moment, looking up and staring Ranma in the eye "he essentially sent me back in time to stop you from dying Ranma," she turned her gaze upon Akane, "and by extension, you."

Akane tried to dry her tears. It's not every day you are told that someone was sent back in time, essentially, to stop your death. Then it hit her, like a brick to the face, "But… that would make you…" She looked over in shock at Ranma, seeing the same look of shock in his eyes, "and we would have…oh my." Her blush was cherry red, and she trailed off with a distinctly Kasumi-like comment.

Akari looked at both of them, and decided to restate her purpose, just in case, "Mother…Father… I was sent back to keep you two together," she turned to face just Ranma, "You of all people…father, should realize what this means, I know you are smarter than you let on." Ranma's eyes widened in disbelief, then he seemed to deflate a moment, before springing back into life, "Guess the jig is up." Ranma laughed good naturedly and scratched the back of his head, as if someone had just caught him sweeping dust under the rug, not deceiving everyone around him.

Akane looked at him wide eyed. Not only was that perfect Japanese, there was none of his usual macho or slang anywhere. Gone was the macho- jerk she had known, and in his place was this stranger. He looked like Ranma, but he spoke and acted much more mature and sophisticated. "Ranma, what does she mean?"

Akari stepped in here, "Ranma is much smarter and sharper than anyone gives him credit for," she paused to chuckle at how thorough he had been, "by design as a matter of fact." Here she received a nod from Ranma, further shocking Akane. "It's one of the founding tenants of Anything Goes," Akari started, "Control what your opponent sees and you control his thoughts, making him predictable," the both finished off. Akari took over again, "No-one ever thought how far Ranma would go to control his opponents thoughts however, going as far as to incorporate it into his very life. Anything Goes Living, you might say." She chuckled, and allowed a brief lapse in her monologue. After allowing Akane time to collect herself, she cleared her throat and took a moment to collect herself.

"When Chaos-sama took me from the funeral, he explained that he could not let his avatar pass on. The way he explained it, Avatars can't be replaced at a moment's notice, especially one he had invested so much in. In order to help me on my mission," here she stopped, realizing how embarrassing this would be for both of her parents, "he… he showed me your lives, all the way up to…your deaths. In essence, I now know everything both of you now know, previously knew, or will ever know." Akane blushed furiously and started sputtering imprecations at the mere thought of her privacy being violated like that. Ranma was the first to realize it though, and he made it known with a gasp, partially of shock, partially of anticipation.

"Yes, that's right Ranma, I have learned all techniques ever developed by both schools, both up to the present, and in the future. "

"But that would mean… that you learned-"

"Yes Ranma, I learned the Neko-ken as well, and I can help you with it." A pregnant pause filled the air, "I hope you both realize the risk I am taking here, just letting the both of you know that I am from the future could potentially cause irreparable damage to the timeline. I'm also laying myself out before you, if you two do not marry, I may cease to exist." With that thought, she stood and left them, returning to her own thoughts about how to handle a certain mercenary girl.

Already upset again, just at the thought of Nabiki, Akari stormed out of the dojo, back to her tea. Ranma stood up and started to stretch out his muscles. Akane stepped forward. Having the vivid reminder of the earlier revelations thrust in her face firmed her resolve. She would get Ranma to talk to her about this.

"Ranma, we need to talk."

"Yeah, we do."Ranma knew what she wanted, but tried desperately to deny it. He devoutly found the nearby wall extremely interesting. Akane gave him a tolerating look. Akari's earlier statements had backed up the growing suspicion in the back of her mind.

Ranma turned to her, locking her intense gaze with his unsure eyes, and then looking at the ground. His shoulders visibly slumped, and, though Akane couldn't see it, his aura shifted more towards the dark blue spectrum. "I don't know Akane, I mean, I do l…lo…care about you, a lot, but to do that… even with you…it's more than I think I'm ready for." Akane placed an arm on his back. She was seeing a new side of her inazuke. The real, emotionally unsure, Ranma. The Ranma who had doubts and fears like everyone else. It must hurt him more than anything else to display his feelings. An action he was raised to believe was weakness, and she wasn't about to betray him in his time of need. Who knows, she thought, maybe if I help him now, he will start to show me some of the real him more often. Her resolve in place, Akane opened her mouth to comfort Ranma, when something interrupted her.

Both of their heads snapped towards the house when a scream issued forth from the kitchen area.

TBC

A/N: Yeah, a lot is crammed in here, sorry if it seems rushed or anything, but let me know what you think. I will be gone for a couple weeks starting Sunday, so I won't be able to post anything new until about the third of next month.

(1)- Tendo, according to Ranma 1/2 Perfect Edition, means " God in child form/cherub", and Akari means "Light or brightness", thus, Godess of Light.