Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of the characters. This is simply a what-if situation. What if this had happened? Also, I would like to apologize to those that are waiting on me to work on "Evil Kasumi Returns" or "Ranma and the Outers" and "Primal Ranma." Although I've had many ideas for them lately. I'm just taking a slight break from them to work on some other ideas that won't get outta my head until I write them down.
-
Very early the next morning, even before Kasumi awoke, Ranma was awake, packed and ready to go. He debated about waking up Nabiki but in the end decided against it. 'Just let her sleep, she never was much of a morning person,' he thought as he shouldered his pack and crept down the stairs.
However just as he was reaching for his shoes he heard a familiar voice, "Just where do you think you're going?"
Ranma jumped and spun around only to see Nabiki fully dressed and ready to go sitting at the table sipping on a cup of coffee. "Um…"
"You said I'd better be ready to go, and here you are trying to leave without me."
"I… But… ok, come on…" He finally said and slipped on his shoes. Nabiki smirked at him and slipped on her shoes as well. When she walked out the door carrying the cup, he stopped her. "Ain't ya gonna lave that here?"
"What ever for?" Nabiki asked and showed him that it was a disposable cup. "You aren't suggesting that I make Kasumi wash this are you?"
He just grinned, "Naw, come on lets go before anyone else wakes up."
With that, the two teens left the Tendo home even before the Kasumi awoke for her normal morning duties. Because of the distance that they had to cover, Nabiki convinced Ranma of the need to take the train so they could save their strength for later with only a marginal complaint from him. However when they arrived at his mother's home even faster than walking he could not help but say she was right, to which she replied, "I know."
"Yea, anyway… I wonder where this shrine is?"
"Since you said it was in the mountains, it may take us most of the day just to get there."
"Not if I ran all the way."
"And what? You'd leave me all alone, and helpless?" She asked with a tremor to her lips.
Ranma just looked at her and sighed, "No… I won't leave you alone but you ain't helpless either."
Instantly Nabiki was back to normal, "I'm glad you see that; now are you going to knock or will I?"
"Yeah, yeah…" he said as they stepped up to his mothers' front door. After knocking, he looked around and smiled at seeing the first ray's of the sun breaking over the horizon. "Pop's and Kasumi must just be getting up about now," he mumbled.
Nabiki just smiled, but before she could comment, the door opened. "Yes?" The Saotome matriarch asked as she looked at the two teens standing on her doorstep this early in the morning.
"Mom, are you ok?" Ranma asked as his mom looked disheveled and tired. Instead of her normal kimono, she was wearing a long robe that looked to be hastily put on and tied.
"Huh…. Ranma?" She asked then instantly she was wide-awake and smiling. "Oh Ranma my son!" Not to mention giving her son a hug that put an Amazon's glomp to shame.
Nabiki snickered then tapped the woman on the shoulder. "Auntie… you might want to let go of him?"
"Huh why?" She asked.
"Because he's turning a fair shade of purple!"
"Oh… oh dear!" She said and suddenly let go of her son who started coughing and sucking in as much air as his lungs could handle. "I'm so sorry my son!"
"It's no problem… just took me by surprise…" He gasped out.
"Oh dear, where are my manners; please, Ranma, Nabiki, won't you come in?"
"Sure mom," Ranma replied that earned him a beaming smile from her.
"That sounds good Auntie." Nabiki said as she too entered.
After breakfast was served, Nodoka quickly dressed and then returned to see the two teens eating slowly. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's no problem," Nabiki told her with a smile.
"Sorry about stoppin' by like this mom, but when you told me to come by anytime… I guess… I…"
"No! No... It's alright." She told him with a smile. "I just don't normally get up this early, but you can come by anytime, even in the middle of the night." The two smiled at her, which she returned with equal care. Sitting at the table, she ate a little breakfast and was pleased to see that Ranma had not eaten everything while she was gone. However, when she noticed the contemplative look on his face, as well as the expectant look in Nabiki's eyes, she asked, "Ranma, was there a reason you stopped by so early?"
"Yea mom, ya see, me an Nabiki…"
"You mean Nabiki and I," his mother corrected.
"Yeah, you can come too, but we were wondering where that shrine was?"
Nabiki tried to stifle her giggle at what he said while his mother just blinked at him. "Well…" She started but was reasonably confused about his wording. "The shrine is in the mountains to the north of here… it would take some time to travel there."
"How long is that? A few hours, days, weeks?"
"Oh dear, no just several hours. If we leave soon we should get there by dinner time."
"Ok, then lets go!" He said excitably causing the two females present to laugh a moment.
Less than an hour later the three were on the way to the nearest train station and then northward bound. Be it to wait on a different train or to eat a little, their trip to the shrine took several hours as they stopped several times. And as predicted, the three arrived at the mountain shrine by dinnertime. Unfortunately, for Nabiki, this shrine was a good distance away from everything, which included electricity, running water and signal for her cell phone.
-
Pleased, happy, ecstatic… would be three of the words to describe the youngest Tendo's morning. Not only was she able to do her mourning routine without being interrupted or insulted, she also didn't have to put up with Ranma's usual insults at the breakfast table. The fact that the insults went both ways never entered her mind. Instead, she was just happy to have a nice, relaxing morning without 'his' presence. Her good mood carried over to school, as she didn't have Ranma in her way as she dealt with the perverts at school, otherwise known as the boys at school.
One pervert, uh male, she decided to grace with her presence in the form of a foot to the face before the poetry speaking insane kendoist could even begin his morning tirade. To Akane, this was a wonderful day. Or at least until class started and she didn't see Ranma around for school. 'That jerk… skipping school again,' she thought and tried to banish those thoughts, as she was not going to let thoughts of that insensitive jerk ruin her good mood.
"Akane…" she heard someone whisper. Looking over she noticed Ukyo trying to look busy.
"What?" Akane asked hoping this was not going to be about Ranma.
"Have you seen Ra-chan today?"
Valiantly the youngest Tendo tried to control her temper. "Thankfully no."
The chef cast an annoyed glare then asked. "You don't think that Chinese hussy got him do you?"
Gritting her teeth, the shorthaired girl bit back her angry reply, "Why would I care where that jerk is?"
"Miss Tendo…"
Akane didn't notice who called her name and she replied louder. "I don't care where that insensitive jerk is! For all I care he could just go away and die!" As she spoke her voice rose louder until the students' three classes over could hear.
"Miss Tendo!"
"What?" Akane angrily asked then turning, realized too late that she was yelling at the teacher. "Oops…"
"Hall… buckets… now…" The angry teacher said pointing to the empty hallway.
Bowing her head, Akane took the buckets into the hall and waited. Her thoughts once again turning to the annoying boy whose fault this was. And sadly, Akane's good mood was ruined for the rest of the day.
By lunchtime, Akane was a volcano ready to erupt. "Where's that baka?" She asked her friends who could only say they didn't know. However, her mood only darkened when she tried to find Nabiki only to be informed that the she hadn't made it to school either. "ARGH! That Baka! If he's hurt Nabiki he's going to get it!"
Her dark mood only became worse when she heard the familiar ring-ring of a bicycle bell followed by the arrival of a purple haired Amazon. "Ai-yah! Kitchen-destroyer see Shampoo airen?"
Akane growled then shouted at the Amazon, "No I haven't seen that stupid baka!"
"Akane, do you know where Nabiki is?" Ukyo asked, as she approached the girl that was reaching critical mass.
"ARGH!" Akane really was beginning to hate today. "I don't know! I didn't see them at breakfast and neither of them are here… so do you think I know where they went? For all I know those two ran off together and got married!" Even as those words left her mouth, Akane knew that this was going to get much worse than better.
"WHAT?" Ukyo said in shock.
"Sneaky-mercenary girl need taught lesson not to mess with Shampoo Airen…" The girl said and then raced off towards the dojo.
"Oh no… Shampoo wait!" Akane shouted and took off running after Shampoo.
Ukyo had been gritting her teeth, but when Shampoo and then Akane left, she too shrugged off school and ran towards the dojo to find her Ra-chan.
Seeing the three leave, Kunö wondered what was going on as he pondered what was said, and then as if lightening hit his noble personage he understood completely. "Verily, if the foul Saotome has indeed taken the sister of my Fierce Tigress for himself, then this must mean that he has given up on my loves… Oh wait for me oh fiery tigress!"
Many other students looked on in amazement; though, a few of them went to some of the girls Nabiki knew to collect their winnings as obviously Ranma and Nabiki had left to be together.
As expected, Shampoo arrived at the Tendo home first, but she had to stop in her tracks as she realized that she didn't know which room was Nabiki's. Looking at the windows she thought, 'That room is Akane's… and that one is Ranma's… so which one…'
"Shampoo wait!"
Groaning the Amazon turned to Akane. "What you want?"
Panting Akane can running up towards the Amazon. "I… just…" For a moment, Akane stopped to think of how she should tell her that Nabiki and Ranma weren't home. If she just said so, then she knew that Shampoo wouldn't believe her. However if she said they were home then it would only make things worse. 'Ahhh I hate this!' she mentally ranted.
"What are you two doing here... I thought you said they weren't home?" Ukyo asked as she ran up to the two girls.
"I did! I…"
"Oh my… Akane shouldn't you be in school?" The voice of Kasumi broke the three out of their stale mate.
"Kasumi, have you seen Ra-chan around anywhere?"
"Oh… I can't say I have… he wasn't at breakfast this morning either."
"Ra-chan… skipped breakfast?" To say the least, Ukyo was shocked.
"Have seen mercenary-girl?"
"Oh do you mean Nabiki…" Kasumi asked then shook her head. "No… she was missing from breakfast as well. I thought she went to school rather early."
"Do you know where they went?" Akane finally asked, but Kasumi just shook her head.
"I'm sorry little sister, but perhaps we should look in their rooms?"
The three fiancée's looked at each other then nodded before racing inside with Akane in the lead. Quickly the three looked though Ranma's room but found nothing, not even his pack, which filled them all with dread. In Nabiki's room, though they found a lot of documents pertaining to Ranma's many fiancées, even a copy of the Amazon book of laws.
"Shampoo wonder where she put that…" She mumbled as she picked it up. However, what caught her eye was the parts that were marked about multiple Amazons wishing to wed a single male. "This no look good…" she uttered quietly.
Ukyo found in the stack of papers a written account of the deal made between her father and Ranma's… as well as documents supporting and refuting the claim. "What does she think she's doing?"
The youngest Tendo found only one item that drew her attention. A simple piece of paper with directions written in Ranma's messy style. "I… I don't believe it…"
"Where is she!" the voice of an insane and now mad gymnast shouted from the doorway. "Where is that... that…" for the first time in her life, Kodachi found herself lacking for a word to describe her true feelings for Nabiki.
"She's gone…" Akane mumbled a little too loud.
"Gone where?" Ukyo, Kodachi and Shampoo wanted to know.
"I found this… its directions to something…"
"Possibly where she hid whatever blackmail she's holding over my Ra-chan!"
Before Shampoo or Kodachi could start to argue over that Akane answered, "No… it's written by him…"
"WHAT?" three voices shouted.
"He… that jerk! He ran off with my sister!" Akane suddenly shouted in feminine outrage once she jumped to the conclusion that with this note in Ranma's handwriting, then he must have given it to her so they could meet somewhere in secret. "You JERK! I'll kill you for this!" She shouted and quickly left the room.
"What that about?" Shampoo asked Ukyo.
"I've no clue… but if she thinks she can run off without me…" the chef trained off as she quickly left Nabiki's room to follow Akane. She was followed by Shampoo then Kodachi as she tried to piece things together.
It was several minutes after the females had left that Tatewaki Kunö, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School arrived at the Tendo home with roses in hand for both of his beloveds. "Akane Tendo! Pig-Tailed-Girl! Fear not for I am here!"
"Oh my…" Kasumi said as she noticed him. "I'm sorry, but they are not here right now."
"Verily they have gone in search of myself!"
"Um… well Akane did go looking for…"
"Say no more fair maiden, I shall go and find Akane so she no longer has to look for me!" And so saying, Kunö rushed off, in the wrong direction before Kasumi could point out to him where Akane and Ranma's other fiancées had gone.
-
Somewhere, far from the estrogen brigade, Ranma and Nabiki got a chill up their spines followed by dual sneezing fits.
-
After a few hours to get to the destination, none of the four expected the rendezvous to be located in a graveyard.
"How… quaint…" Kodachi said as she dully looked over the place.
"Akane… you sure Ranma honey's directions led here?"
"Yea… this is the place… and why did you all follow me?"
"Shampoo come take Airen back from sneaky-girl."
"If Nabiki thinks that she can take Ranma from me without a fight, she's got another thing coming!" Ukyo said proudly.
"Oh, fine, whatever…" Akane told them and then followed the directions into the graveyard… up a small hill and over to… "A grave marker… they were to meet at a grave marker?"
"You know… I always thought Nabiki was kind of odd, but this…" The chef said as she looked around.
"What kind of place is this to take my Ranma-sama?"
"What that say?" shampoo asked as she pointed to the marker they were standing before.
"Don't you know how to read… it says… 'Ranma Saotome. My precious child…'" She was going to continue, but those four words grabbed all of their attentions. "Ranma…"
"Ra-chan…"
"Airen…"
"Ranma-sama? How… how could you… how… this is not real!"
"Sugar… I think it's real… look at the dates… Ra-chan… Ranma… died the day he was born."
"But… but… then who… and…"
"I… then who is… is…" Kodachi was going to ask who her Ranma-sama was, but that was a bit much for the gymnast.
"Who was I friends with back then… who was it that my father engaged me to… if… if Ranma's dead?"
"Never mind that… who's been staying in my house!" All eyes turned to Akane. "If Ranma…" she pointed to the grave stone, "is dead… then who did that stupid panda bring into my house!" No one felt they should correct Akane on that it wasn't her house, but they had the same questions going though their minds.
"Did his parents adopt him?" Kodachi asked meekly, though no one noticed that all traces of her insanity were gone.
"Auntie never said anything about it… and that panda keeps telling us that Ranma is his kid…"
"Shampoo not sure she understand… but if Ranma no live… then why they name new boy Ranma?"
That, no one had an answer to. For almost an hour the four stood there, looking at the gravestone, lost in thought. Then slowly, as the light began to wean, the four left quietly and made their way back to their homes. Though this time, they all moved at a much slower pace with many thoughts confusing and sad. One thought above all others seemed to hit each girl that night with a repetitive yet clear statement. 'Ranma… wasn't Ranma!'
Upon arriving back in Nerima the four had come up with a simple but easy to follow plan. "I shall find out the truth about Ranma-sama… um… about Ranma… I have to know if he died, or was adopted." Kodachi said to which the others nodded.
"And you're going to ask that stupid panda about Ra-chan, right Akane?" Ukyo asked.
"You better believe it! That jerk, telling us that Ranma is his son!"
"And Shampoo ask Great-grandmother some things too."
"Like what sugar?"
"Not Sugar, she in village."
Ukyo and the others blinked then just shook their heads with a sigh. "Whatever."
Slowly the four parted ways and returned to their homes. Once Ukyo got to her restaurant, she called her father to tell him about this and ask what she should do.
For Shampoo, she returned to the Cat Café and after being scolded by Cologne for being gone all day she informed the elder of what she had discovered, not only in the middle Tendo's room, but at the graveyard as well. "Shampoo…"
"Yes Great-grandmother?"
"This does not bode, well… for now we will wait and watch. If what you say is true about what Nabiki has been looking at, you may very well have to share son-in-law, however if Ranma has been adopted, then you may not have to worry about the Tendo's or the Kuonji girl."
Shampoo did look happier about that and quickly went to work getting things ready for the next day.
"Sasuke!" Kodachi yelled upon arrive home.
"Yes mistress?" The ninja asked after popping up in front of her.
"I have a job for you. I don't care where you have to go to get this information, but I want you to find out if Ranma…" she paused and took a deep breath, "…died at birth or was adopted."
Hearing this, the small ninja almost fell flat on his face. "Mistress!"
"I… I saw Ranma's grave today…"
Sasuke blinked and looked at her with wide eyes, only now noticing that the wild maniacal look in them has faded. "Where?"
"In a graveyard a distance away… it… it took most of the day to get there and return. It said… It said that my Ranma-sama died at birth… but that cannot be true… he 'is' real… I know it… I could feel it when he caught me… please… find out everything you can."
Never had he been asked like this, and to his recollection, he had never been asked politely to find out something. But seeing the state she was in, as well as how she was asking, he determined not to fail her in this. "I will find all I can," he told her with a deep bow before leaving.
By the time Akane arrived home, she had lost the anger that she had when she last talked to the other three girls. Now, instead of anger, she felt confused, and unsure about a number of things. Her confusion only grew when she finally returned home and talked to Kasumi. When Akane told her about the grave, the elder Tendo was shocked, and then sighed saying, "I was wondering about his tests."
"Tests?"
"Oh my, I forgot to tell you in all the excitement." Kasumi told her and then informed her little sister about what she and Nabiki found out about Ranma's blood type. However, this information only had Akane even more confused. It to her, proved that Ranma did die at birth and was replaced, but why did they as Shampoo said, name the 'new' son Ranma as well?
And so, instead of confronting Genma about his son, Akane went to sleep thinking and wondering about Ranma… who he really was… and what to do about it.
-
"Ugh… how did they survive like this?"
Ranma snickered at her. "Problem Nabiki?"
"Yes! Just look at this place! There's no lights, no heat and most importantly no water!"
"Oh dear, but Nabiki we do have water here." Nodoka then turned to her son, "Ranma would you take that bucket," she said pointing to a rather large bucket that came up to his knees. "And go to the well over there, and get us some water." As she pointed to the well, Ranma looked at the building built around it that protected it.
"Our… I mean my ancestors lived very simply. They did not need to live extravagantly. However, they did like to keep things protected. That well house was built many years ago to keep leaves and other things from falling into it." Just as she was about to enter the house she stopped a moment. "Oh and do be careful, the water can be extremely cold."
Ranma gulped at that, and set off to get the water. He was surprised that the door was easily opened as well as being very clean on the inside. There were a few cobwebs, but none were around the well itself. Unfortunately, for Ranma though, even with the warning, he still ended up getting some water on him. So Ranma-chan carried the bucket back towards the house grumbling at how cold the water was.
Upon entering the house, Ranma noticed that Nodoka and Nabiki were trying to get a fire started. With a smirk she approached them, "Let me try…" she said and a quick application of some hot ki they had a nice warm fire going. "So when are we going to see the cave?"
"Not until the morning."
"What?" he, currently a she asked.
"It is too dark and dangerous to go stumbling around at night. That is unless you want Nabiki to get hurt?"
"Ah… no…" Ranma said with a sigh.
Nabiki though was not paying attention to the conversation, instead she was holding a small device in her hands and muttering words that made Ranma wonder where she learned to swear in American. Finally, Nabiki gave up whatever she was doing and joined the other two. "I can't get a signal on my phone… these mountains must be blocking the signal."
Nodoka nodded her head, "I believe the nearest tower for those things was in the last town we were at…"
Sighing Nabiki asked, "You mean the one that took us an hour in that filthy cab to get away from?" Upon seeing the woman nod her head, Nabiki glared at Ranma. "When we find your ship, we are taking it back! I am not going to ride in that… that… thing again!"
Ranma chuckled nervously. "Well… um… without a phone how would we even call a cab from here?"
Nabiki's eyes went wide and then narrowed at Ranma-chan. "I will not walk that distance… if we don't find your ship; you are going to carry me back."
"Um… I… ok…"
Off to the side Nodoka could not help but laugh at the middle Tendo. "But dear, it's only a few miles."
The girl groaned, "Ugh, martial artists… can't there be a single martial artist that knows how to use modern convinces?"
Ranma just chuckled and used a little of the water to turn male again. For some time Ranma thought everything was right with the world, he was with his mom, they were going to be finding his ship that was lost in the mountains and having fun finally able to pay Nabiki back some. Or at least it was fun until they had prepared for bed not far from the fire to go to sleep. That was when Ranma realized Nabiki new nothing about camping as her nightshirt, while thick for city wear, was nowhere near enough to keep her warm in the mountains.
"Um Nabiki?"
"What now Ranma?" She asked tiredly as she just wanted to go to bed.
"Um… do you wanna borrow some of my stuff?"
"Why?" She asked suspiciously.
"Cause I don't think that's gonna keep you very warm in here."
She looked down at herself then at what Nodoka was wearing and cursed to herself. "You could've warned me."
"Well... I..."
"Don't worry Nabiki dear, all we have to do is sleep close to each other to keep warm."
She looked at the older woman in something akin to fear. "What?"
"While we sleep the fire will go out, no matter what we do. But if we all sleep close together, then we can all stay warm." Nabiki groaned loudly though Ranma was just looking at his mother with wide eyes. Setting up her sleeping bag, she patted the area to her left. "Here Nabiki, sleep next to me and Ranma you sleep on the other side of her, that way she will not get cold. I'd hate for her to get sick on this trip."
Realizing that she had little to no choice, Nabiki did as she was asked. However, after lying down she noticed that while Nodoka and she had sleeping bags, Ranma just had a rolled up blanket. "Ranma, don't you have one of these?"
"Naw," he told her and laid down placing the blanket over him. "This blanket has always been good enough, besides after I learned to channel my ki to start a fire I couldn't stand more than this covering me."
"Oh?" both females asked.
"Yea, I feel like I'm being smothered when I'm in one of those things…"
The two let it drop for now and soon the three of them were fast asleep. However not long after the fire went out, Nabiki began to shiver even in her insulated sleeping bag. Sleepily she searched out warmth and after finding it, she pulled herself closer to it and slept peacefully though the night without a single chill or care.
-
To be Continued…