DO NOT EVER ASSUME TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF THINGS! THE FACT IS, I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO THE GODDESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND SHE ALONE HAS THE POWER TO ACCEPT THINGS IN RETURN FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE OF THESE CHARACTERS AND HER ORIGINAL STORYLINE!

IF YOU GIVE ME ANYTHING, I WILL FALL VICTIM TO THE UNMERCIFUL TALENTS OF VARIOUS GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND LAWYERS WHO WILL ENSURE THAT I SUFFER AS GREATLY AS I CAN AND PERHAPS EVEN AUDIT ME!

Apology

Chapter 5

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

When Ranma finally came to, it was very dark. He couldn't see a thing; just feel a soft, fuzzy feeling enveloping him. Ranma considered this for a while, trying to reason it through. Is this what it's like being dead? I always thought I was supposed to follow some bright light or something. Maybe this is just a sort of preview? I wonder if I am gonna go do that heaven thing or go to another life like some of those priests always used to talk to Pops and me about… maybe I shoulda paid more attention to them, but I guess I didn't expect to be killed so early in life. Aw man, Akane and I were gettin' along so well lately too. Figures that it woulda been Ryouga that finally got her mad enough to kill somebody. Where's he gone off to, though? Knowin' Ryouga, he probably wandered off somewhere and got himself lost even though this is probably the worst place possible to do such a thing. So what am I gonna do here? Wait a minute, that sounds like Pops' snoring… Where am I? Ranma shuffled a little bit and realized that he was just under a blanket. "Whoa, how'd I get here? The last thing I remember was Akane puttin' Ryouga in the bath…Ryouga! I hope he's okay!" Ranma kicked off the covers and looked at the clock. It was eight-thirty in the morning, and the house was surprisingly quiet. Ranma just hoped it wasn't the calm before the storm.

Moving out of his room, the first thing that Ranma noted was the absolute lack of anything out of the ordinary. The hallway was perfectly clean, and it was as if the floor had been recently washed. It was scaring the heck out of him. He would have been more prepared to have exited his room only to find the decapitated body of Ryouga lying in a pool of blood. The absolute spotlessness of the area was altogether too strange and filled him with an odd sense of dread. Ranma passed by Akane's door, wondering if he should knock, but then continued on his way downstairs. Once he had descended the stairs, Ranma peeked to the end of the downstairs hallway. It wasn't there anymore. It wasn't just that he couldn't see it, it was just that the end of the hallway now no longer existed as such and appeared to be doing a strikingly good impression of a doorway, or, more accurately, a huge hole allowing one to see right through into the backyard. Ranma stared at it for a minute or so. He had expected that Akane would become angry, but he hadn't expected such wanton destruction. Ranma ceased his thoughts and went looking for more survivors. He found Kasumi napping on the living room table. Gently, he tapped her on the shoulder.

"EEK!" Kasumi shot up into the air and landed on her feet showing such alacrity and grace that Ranma caught himself wondering if Kasumi hadn't been studying under Happousai and surpassed them all on the sly. She calmed down when she realized it was only Ranma.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was you."

"That's okay, where is everybody? I found Pops, but I haven't been able to find anybody else.

"Oh that's right, Dr. Tofu said to send you right away as soon as you woke up. Something dreadful has happened to Ryouga. Akane's at school and everyone else is out right now."

"Okay, I'll go. Thanks!" With that, Ranma sped out of the house and was on his way.

"How's your head? Oh dear, he left already. I do hope he's careful." Kasumi quietly went back to napping.

Ranma hurried towards Dr. Tofu's clinic. As he ran, he jumped up onto the fence. He ran a few steps, then missed his footing and fell flat on his face. That's weird; I should be able to do that with no problem… Ranma dusted himself off, and jumped back onto the fence. He didn't even land properly. Ranma felt one foot brush the top of the fence, and then he experienced himself falling. *SPLASH* Ranma fell headlong into the aqueduct. Sputtering his way to the surface, Ranma suddenly felt a splitting pain shoot through the top of his head.

"Ow! What the heck is this?" Ranma felt along the top of his head, and his fingers found a bald patch with some bumpy parts to it almost as if he had… "Stitches. Oh man, if I got it bad enough to get stitches, then Ryouga must be…" Ranma swam out of the water and up onto dry land. His head still hurt, but he was able to start hurrying to the clinic again. This time, however, he stayed on the ground. He wanted to get to Ryouga, and fast.

"Doc! Doc, are you in? How's Ryouga?" Ranma burst through the door and into the doctor's waiting room. Dr. Tofu emerged from the back area with a grim look on his face.

"Ranma, it's good that you are here. How are your stitches?"

"They hurt a bit, but it's okay. Where's Akane?"

"Ranma, Akane went to school a little while ago. I think you should stay here for a few hours while I take a look at you." Dr. Tofu reached out and grabbed Ranma's shoulder as he was leaving.

"Ranma, I know you want to see Akane, but I need you here for a while. I don't think you should go to school yet, and Ryouga needs someone here for him." Noting that Ranma was apparently ignoring him, Dr. Tofu tried a different tactic to get his attention: "Ranma, you do realize that you've been out for most of the week! It's Thursday!"

Ranma quickly snapped back to reality. "Th-Thursday?" he gulped. Akane must have been furious! "Sorry Doc, I just had some things on my mind."

Doctor Tofu nodded, "I know you're worried about Akane, but I think that it's Ryouga you should be worried about right now. Come back to my office, Ranma, there are some things we need to talk about."

Ranma nodded and silently followed Dr. Tofu into the back room. Doctor Tofu spent the next couple of hours checking over Ranma, making sure he was healing correctly and that there had been no brain damage or lasting damage from his ordeal, as well as restoring Ranma's true gender. Ranma learned that he had spent the rest of that day and the entire next three days unconscious at the Tendou house, and that Ryouga had been moved here shortly after the hospital couldn't take him due to his lack of identification and insurance. Doctor Tofu had been able to take him and provide better care for him than he would have received at the hospital, but Ryouga was still in a bad state. When Doctor Tofu finally finished with Ranma and allowed Ranma to see Ryouga, Ranma's eyes bugged out of his head and he gasped. Ryouga's body was lying on a table in one of Dr. Tofu's back rooms, and Ranma wasn't sure if Ryouga was breathing or not. Ranma watched carefully, the tension building up in him nervously, almost as if he were willing Ryouga to breathe. Ranma was rewarded when he saw Ryouga's chest rise and fall slowly, and heard Ryouga cough a little bit of blood up.

"Doc," Ranma could barely even whisper, "Is Ryouga gonna live through this?"

Doctor Tofu's face was sullen and serious. "I don't know Ranma. There's a chance, and it's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I may need you to-"

"I'll do it." Ranma interjected, "I owe it to him, I coulda saved him if I'd have been fast enough." Ranma was barely holding back tears of shame.

"Ranma! This isn't a decision you should take lightly! You need a lot more information before I'll let you do anything!" Doctor Tofu looked serious, more serious than Ranma could ever remember. Even more serious than when Doctor Tofu had described the effects of the Xai-Fan-Heng-Gao shiatsu attack or telling Ranma he couldn't cure his Full-Body Cat-Tongue nerve or Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion. Ranma froze as the sheer depth of the situation began to hit him. Doctor Tofu continued,

"Ranma, Ryouga is going to die if we don't do something. He is seriously injured as well as having massive lack of ki to heal. On top of all that, he appears to have suffered some brain damage, and we can't figure out what effect that could have until he wakes up. But he's not going to be able to wake up on his own, Ranma. We have to help him." Ranma nodded as Doctor Tofu went on,

"Ranma, I know this is going to be difficult to comprehend, but you are the one of the only people here strong enough to help Ryouga out. Neither Happousai nor Cologne can be persuaded to help. I would do it, but no one else could conduct the ritual to save him."

Ranma nodded, not fully sure he understood what was going on. Is Doctor Tofu gonna have to do a transplant or something? But he had said strong enough, and while he was sure that giving up an organ would take some strength, he doubted that he was one of the only people that could give Ryouga whatever he needed. Besides, the Doctor had also mentioned brain damage. Doctor Tofu's eyes flashed as his eyes met Ranma's and he continued to explain.

"I need to give him some of your ki, Ranma. Your life essence - a part of your very soul." Doctor Tofu's face seemed aged with worry, and Ranma was sure that his own face had just gone white.

"This is a very dangerous process that may do irreparable damage to the both of you if it is not done right. There is also a very good chance of you being weakened by the same amount of ki you give to him – permanently weakened." The doctor's voice almost cracked as he spat the last part out. He looked at Ranma expectantly.

"How much do you think he will need, Doc?" Ranma could barely manage a whisper.

"About a third." Doctor Tofu turned his head to look at Ryouga again. "Maybe more."

"Wow." Ranma breathed. He couldn't look away from Ryouga's prone form on the examination table. Ryouga slept fitfully, the damage so intense that Ranma was certain that what little rest Ryouga was getting certainly wasn't doing him any good and was probably wracked by nightmares.

Doctor Tofu continued speaking as he motioned for Ranma to leave the room, "Ranma, I don't want you to make a decision yet, there's still too much to think about, and I know you have to talk to other people first. I want to hear your decision, but not today. Tell me tomorrow, and we'll work out the details then."

When Ranma left his office Doctor Tofu called after him, "Ranma, take things slow today, I don't even want you to run anywhere!" but Ranma didn't hear him as he took off towards the school.

Ranma left the clinic very worried and distraught. I still don't have much of a choice, you know, it's either I save Ryouga or I let him die… Ranma walked the rest of the way to school at a very quick pace, staggering slightly but hoping that the speed would distract him and help him to make sense of what was going on.

Author's Notes: One of the best parts about reading a story you wrote so long ago is that it seems new again! You remember the basic premise, but other than that it's pretty refreshing. Well, maybe not this chapter in particular... it's kind of depressing. But this chapter is necessary to bring some of the other parts along, so I think it was worth it. This chapter is the last that I completed way back when I first started writing, so I'll finally be able to break some new ground starting around the middle of the next one. I'm excited!