Chapter 9:

Turn the Page

"I finally found you Ranma Saotome!"

Nodoka froze in place as she heard a voice that was very familiar, a voice she'd hoped she'd never hear again. It had been months since she'd last heard that voice, and the way it stabbed into her like a dagger was obvious. She stopped on the sidewalk, breathed in slowly and turned around cautiously, ready to defend herself should the need arise. "W-what do you want Mousse?"

The Chinese boy before her stood there smiling slightly, gazing at her through his glasses, as if he had the upper hand. His face was brimming with confidence, a feature she didn't recall it holding in thier last meeting. "I'm not hear about that Ranma, no need to be so uptight. I have a message from your father."

"What? You've seen pops?" She relaxed a bit, it had been nearly a month now since she'd last seen her father, and began her new life as Nodoka. As of yet, she'd heard nothing from him, no postcards, or even a phone call. She wasn't worried though, her father was a strong, powerful man, a man who had taught her nearly everything and had, despite some of his more idiotic moments on thier journeys, become her idol. "When? What'd he say?"

"Now now, why should I tell you Ranma? After the greeting you gave to me, and here I thought we were friends."

"Mousse... I'm sorry, the last time I saw you it was just, that was a bad time in my life ok? And, please, don't call me by that name anymore, I'm Nodoka here." She sighed and looked away and started walking again. "Look, if you aren't going to tell me, I'll just be getting back home."

"He's found a lead on a cure."

Again Nodoka froze. A cure, a way to go back to being who she was. Could there really be such a way, would she finally be able to live her life again?

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"I'm so glad you're smiling again Ra, er Nodoka." Ukyo giggled a bit as she held on to the other girl's arm. "I was worried that you'd still be depressed today since we still haven't found Akane."

Her face had lost it's smile, and some of the gloom had returned. "I'd almost forgotten that she's still missing."

"That's so unlike you, so, what brought on the smile anyways?"

"I got a message from my old man, he might have found a way to..." She stopped talking as she looked around. She'd already had too many people find her out, Ukyo was ok, but the way Ryouga had found out bothered her. She didn't need, or want anyone else to know who she really was. She had started a new life, and she was, in many ways happy again. When she was sure no one of importance could overhear, she whispered into Ukyo's ear. "He may have found a way to change me back." The redhead smiled again and continued walking.

Ukyo paused, and released her grip on the other girl's arm. "A-are you saying you want to go back?"

Nodoka stopped and slowly turned to look over her shoulder at Ukyo. "Of course I do, what kinda question is that?"

Ukyo looked away and let out a sigh, it was clear she was near the verge of tears. "I... I like you the way you are now Ranma! I don't want you to change."

Nodoka felt her heart clench slightly, she could see Ukyo's reaction, hear her words, but she felt like she'd just been stabbed in the back. "W-what do you mean by that Ukyo? I thought you'd be happy for me, I thought you'd want me back to being me again."

"You're an idiot Ranma. What happens if you do turn back? Don't you think that'll cause many more problems for everyone? Akane's already a mess because of you, and she doesn't even know it's you. Ryouga's at his wits ends trying to find her, and here you are thinking about yourself. Doesn't anyone else matter to you?"

Nodoka dropped to her knees, she'd suddenly felt very winded as Ukyo's words stabbed at her deeply. She hadn't thought about that. She was worried about Akane, she'd forgotten all about that for a moment in the news she'd recieved, and then that wasn't even positive news, she'd only heard of a potential lead. She sighed as reality bore down on her. "Y-you're right Ukyo."

When Nodoka looked up, she saw that she was alone, Ukyo had already left.

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"So, how long are you in Japan for Mousse?"

"I have to go back tomorrow, I only came here to find you and delivery your father's message." Mousse smiled a bit and offered his hand to Nodoka.

She stared at it for a moment and sighed. "Hey Mousse, if it's alright with you, can we talk for a little bit? I want you to take a message back to my old man for me."

"Yeah, Genma had a feeling you'd want to send him a message or something. He's amazing you know."

"Yeah, real amazing. Can you tell him to come home?" Nodoka sighed slightly as she sat down in a chair and laid her head against the wall of her family's living area.

"But what about the cure? When I last saw him, we were so close to finding one."

"I don't care about the cure anymore, it'd only cause more trouble." Nodoka sighed heavily as she buried her head further against the wall.

"Ranma..."

"I thought you of all people would be happy, especially considering..." She stood up slowly. "Just give him my message, please. His family wants him home."

"You and I both know he'll keep looking, he feels it's his fault you're like this." Mousse took a step towards Nodoka and reached to place a hand on her shoulder. He still remembered their first meeting, she had been a beauty to rival the star of his village, and he had immediately fallen for the girl. When he thought back on it, he realized he'd been an idiot. At least he knew the truth now, and had given up on winning the maiden's heart, he knew better now.

"I don't care if he suffers for it forever, tell him I'm happy, that this life isn't so bad, just tell him anything, I don't care. I don't want to find a cure, I don't need to find a cure. I'm already causing too many problems for everyone."

He still felt the attraction for her he'd always felt, and despite the truth, he had once been in love with the idea of the girl before him. Mousse paused a bit as his hand almost reached Nodoka's shoulder, and then he sighed and pulled his hand away. "He's not gonna be happy with that you know, but I'll give him your message."

"Thanks Mousse, would you please leave me now. I want to be alone."

"As you wish."

"And one last thing, tell Shampoo she's welcome to visit any time."

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Her resolve had been tested for several days now, it had been a week since Ryouga had found her out, a week since Akane disappeared, and hours since she'd realized just how much trouble she'd been for everyone. She'd made up her mind about several things. First, Ryouga could hate her forever, and it didn't matter. Akane was missing, and lonely, and someone needed to find her and bring her home.

Her resolve had brought her here, to the Tendo household. She had knocked on the door, and was now sitting quietly in the family dining area awaiting tea from the eldest daughter.

"It's so nice for one of Akane's friends to come by. We've all been so worried about her."

"Yeah, everyone at school is worried too. You haven't heard anything from her?" Nodoka looked up at the eldest Tendo daughter with a slight smile. She'd always liked Kasumi's gentle nature, she was the one with the best head on her shoulder's in that household, and the most calm in a crisis. Truthfully, the same could be argued about Nabiki, but she was more apathetic towards such matters, and instead seemed to not care that Akane was missing.

"Still, it's quite troublesome, that girl. We have no idea what happened to her, did she and Ryouga have a fight?" Kassumi frowned slightly looking at Nodoka across the table. "I do hope that's not the case, but nothing else seems to fit for her to run away like this."

"I don't know what it is Kassumi, but it has nothing to do with Ryouga, he's just as worried as everyone else. Hasn't he even been by here?"

"No, we haven't heard fgrom him since she went missing, that's why I'm so worried about those two. Oh well, Akane couldn't have gone too far away. We've been having food go missing, so she's probably been sneaking in at nights to eat." Kassumi sighed again, then smiled at Nodoka. "Anyways, it's been so nice to visit with you, please feel free to stop by again anytime."

"I will, thank you for the tea." Nodoka smiled slightly as she walked out of the Tendo household and into the yard. So Akane was somewhere nearby, that was a bit of a relief at least. She'd have hated to think Akane would run away too bar.

As she headed for the gate she paused and looked over her shoulder to her left. There sat the Tendo's family dojo. She'd spent many hours there in her youth, when she and Akane would practive thier martial arts together. It was a place of fond memories for her, and a place that seemed sadly deserted these days. She sighed to herself and headed towards the dojo, perhaps a bit of nostalgia would make her feel better.

The sign post on the dojo wall was in definent disrepair, a sign that the place had fallen on hard times, and a sign that the building was never really used anymore. Nodoka sighed, it was such a shame in her eyes. This had been a place of dreams for her, and now it was nothing more then a waste of land. She sighed again as she opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

The dojo was poorly lit, most of the blinds were closed and allowed little light inside. The floors were covered in dust, as were the walls, but there was something odd. The air wasn't as stale as she'd expected, and there were footprints. Then it hit her, Kassumi had mentioned that Akane must be close by because of the missing food. It made sense that there'd be footprints here, if Akane were here.

Nodoka had to think for a moment, to remember her training as a martial artist. Silently she moved across the floor, following the footprints. The footprints deadended into a closet. There were several sets of them in here, but these were the most recent. Nodoka smiled slightly and opened the closet door to see Akane sleeping peacefully on the floor, curled up in a ball. "Looks like I finally found you."