Chapter 2: When He Was Hugged
Ranma and Ryoga were engaged in one of their typical epic battles. They stood on opposite stone cliffs in a dark abyss, completely void of any details except for them.
"You're going down, Ranma." Ryoga smirked.
"Yeah right. In your dreams." Ranma smirked back.
The two immediately leapt at each other and began trading blows. Lightning seemed to flash between them as they struck each other with absolute fury. Neither one was giving the other an inch. This was a true battle between destined rivals that wouldn't end until one of them ultimately submitted.
As time went on, the background of the fight began to change. Without warning, Ranma and Ryoga realized that they had suddenly ended up in a forest. The two jumped away from each other so they could get a better sense of what was happening.
"Huh? Where are we?" Ranma asked.
"I don't know, but this place really looks familiar." Ryoga said as began to walk around.
"Hey stupid, don't wander off too far." Ranma yelled. "I don't even know where we are right now, so I know that we won't be able to finish this fight if I wind up losing track of you."
"Would you relax already?" Ryoga groaned. "I was just heading over this way because I think that I was here not too long ago."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Ranma asked as he began to follow Ryoga.
Ryoga didn't answer. Instead, the two walked straight ahead for a few minutes until they came to a small clearing in the woods. In the clearing was what appeared to be the charred remains of a recently used fire pit. Ryoga bent down and lit up when he saw it.
"Wait, I remember now." he said. "I was here just about five days ago. I ate while sitting around the fire that I started in this exact spot."
A thought suddenly clicked in Ranma's head.
"Five days?" he asked. "Hold on, wasn't that the day that you ate the Mushroom of Time."
Ryoga suddenly looked up in shock.
"You know what? I think that it was." he answered. "I was having trouble finding anything to eat until I came across a few of the mushrooms growing out of the ground over here."
Ranma suddenly began to look around frantically.
"Wait…so hold on…the mushrooms…they're here then?" he asked.
Ranma suddenly noticed something familiar looking sticking out of the ground nearby and walked up to it.
"Hey, what do you know? It is the mushrooms." he said proudly.
Ranma reached out to pick one of the larger mushrooms, only to stop suddenly.
"What am I doing?"he thought."I have no need for these right now. I already managed to return to my original age. Although, I can't seem to recall how I managed to do so."
All of a sudden, Ranma felt his face being shoved directly into the dirt, right where the patch of mushrooms was growing.
"Here Ranma, you look pretty hungry. Why don't you eat some of those mushrooms?"
Ranma tried to fight it, but was already too late to do anything. One of the mushrooms had been forced down his throat by Ryoga's sudden attack. He wasted no time in knocking Ryoga away, but was unable to spit the mushroom back out. He gulped the instant that he felt it drop down into his stomach.
"Uh oh."he thought.
Ranma felt a single thumping noise from within his chest before his body began to shrink. In no time at all, he had been reduced to the age of a six year old child. As he brushed off his now-oversized clothes, he noticed Ryoga laughing at him.
"Ha ha, that's more like it, Ranma." he laughed. "Let's see you marry Akane now that you're just a little kid."
Ranma scowled as Ryoga kept laughing. One look at a mushroom that just happened to be in front of him, however, caused a thought to enter Ranma's brain. While Ryoga was distracted, Ranma grabbed the mushroom and leapt straight at Ryoga's head.
"Mushroom First." Ranma yelled as he shoved the mushroom into Ryoga's mouth.
Ryoga's laughter immediately ceased as he began to choke on the mushroom. He began to flail his arms out around his throat in a desperate attempt to dislodge it. Ranma smiled and leapt straight into the air.
"Having trouble there?" he asked sarcastically. "In that case, let me give you a hand."
Ranma landed a hard kick straight to the top of Ryoga's head. The impact was forceful enough to dislodge the mushroom and allow Ryoga to swallow it. As Ranma landed back on the ground in triumph, Ryoga had a blank expression on his face. He soon began to scream as he felt the effects of the mushroom shrinking his body as well. After a few seconds, he had been reduced to a six year old child as well. Ranma couldn't help but smirk at this development.
"Serves you right." Ranma said. "Now you get to see how it feels."
Ryoga soon peered out from his oversized clothing with a look of pure fury. The intensity of it caused Ranma's smile to fade, and he backed away after a few seconds.
"Um, Ryoga?" Ranma asked nervously.
"Ranma." Ryoga snarled. "It always has to be you, doesn't it? You are always finding some new way to make my life a living hell."
Ranma was starting to get a bit scared at this development.
"Okay Ryoga, calm down. It's not so bad." he said.
"Because of this, I will never be able to make Akane mine." Ryoga said, having not apparently heard what Ranma had just said. "This is my worst nightmare come true, and even worse of all, you're the one who's responsible for causing it."
Ranma began to back away out of terror. He knew exactly what was coming, and he didn't want to be anywhere near it.
"I will make you suffer, Ranma." Ryoga yelled. "Shishi Hokodan."
Ryoga screamed as a massive pillar of energy erupted from where he was standing. In no time at all, the energy began to crash back down, taking the tops of the trees with it. Ranma attempted to escape the blast radius, but not being used to his now smaller body, he was unable to run fast enough and ended up being caught up in the explosion just at the outer edge. Ranma cried out in pain as his body was forcibly pressed down by Ryoga's attack, continuing to do so until the energy dissipated a few seconds later.
"Urgh, damn it." he muttered through the pain. "I forgot just how strongly that perfected version packs a punch."
Ranma had only experienced the attack once before, and seeing it now was all the proof Ranma needed to know that Ryoga was going all out. He could only execute this mastered Shishi Hokodan when his depression hit its peak, and he had only been able to do so previously when he was deliberately led to believe that Akane hated him. The attack had managed to injure Ranma way more than the last time since his smaller size left him physically weaker and more susceptible to damage.
"This is bad, I can barely even move."Ranma thought."What am I going to do now?"
Ranma noticed that there was a single mushroom lying directly in front of him, just beyond his reach. It was rather tall, and from what Ranma could tell, it was just about the perfect size needed to allow him to return to normal. Ranma mustered all of his strength to stretch out his hand in an attempt to grab it.
"Almost there. Just a little bit further."he thought.
Just as the tips of Ranma's fingers grazed the mushrooms, Ryoga suddenly appeared in front of him and picked it. Smirking at Ranma while staring down at him, Ryoga popped the mushroom into his mouth and swallowed it. Ranma's eyes widened in horror.
"No."he thought.
Ranma watched as Ryoga's body began to expand and grow until it reached the mature age of sixteen that it had been just a few minutes ago. Ranma felt like an insect about to be squashed as Ryoga towered above him and began to glance at him with killing intent in his eyes.
"This is it, you're finally at my mercy, Ranma." Ryoga said. "Time to end this."
Ryoga raised his fist and prepared to attack. Ranma squirmed a bit in an attempt to move his body, but wasn't able to get anywhere.
"Not good. I'm stuck where I am. He's going to kill me."he thought in terror.
"You're done, Ranma. Today is the day that I finally beat you." Ryoga yelled.
Ryoga pulled back his fist and sent it flying. Ranma closed his eyes right before the fist made contact and began to scream with all of his might.
Ranma opened his eyes and sat up, continuing to scream. After a few seconds, he looked around in confusion.
"Huh? What's going on?" he asked.
Glancing around the room he found himself in, Ranma recognized it right away.
"Oh, so I'm in the dojo." he said. "I guess that fight with Ryoga must've just been a dream that I was having. Even so…"
Ranma suddenly shuddered at the fresh memory of the dream. He had been at Ryoga's mercy, and even worse, he was completely powerless to do anything about it. It truly was the worst thing that his brain could've dreamed up.
"Hold on, if that fight was a dream, does that mean that everything with the mushrooms was also a dream as well?" he asked
Ranma glanced down at his hands and sighed at what he saw. His hands were still incredibly small, as was the rest of his body. Even though that fight where he almost died was clearly nothing more than a dream, everything else that had happened recently wasn't. Ranma was still stuck as a six year old child, and the last of the mushrooms had been destroyed. The path required to return to was at this point completely uncertain, and it nearly caused Ranma to tear up before he stopped himself.
"Get a grip, Ranma." he said to himself. "Even in this form, you're still a man, and men aren't supposed to cry about their problems. Like Pops has always said, real men just dust themselves off and keep on trying no matter the odds."
Ranma lifted his chin up high with a facade of confidence. After a few seconds though, his smile faded and his head sank down. The urge to cry was starting to become overwhelming.
"Damn this tiny de-aged body."he thought."I don't know how much longer I can hold it back. Why won't these feelings just go away already like they've always done?"
All of a sudden, the door flung open which made Ranma forget all about crying. Looking up, he saw Kasumi standing at the entrance to the dojo carrying a series of towels. She immediately smiled upon seeing Ranma.
"Oh my, you're awake. Thank goodness." she said cheerfully.
Kasumi walked over to Ranma and set the towels down next to Ranma's futon. She then proceeded to place her hand on Ranma's forehead. Ranma was left a bit surprised, as Kasumi's hand looked so much larger than he remembered.
"It's nuts."he thought."Everything looks so much bigger now that I've become so much smaller. A few days ago I nearly towered over Kasumi, and now she looks like a giant from my perspective. This is definitely going to take some getting used to."
Kasumi removed her hand from Ranma's forehead.
"That's good." she said. "It looks like your fever has gone down."
"Fever?" Ranma asked.
"Yes, fever." Kasumi answered. "You took a lot of damage during your fight with Ryoga. While you were passed out, your body heated up so you could heal. I have to admit though, you really recovered a lot faster than I expected."
Ranma blinked his eyes in confusion.
"Faster?" he asked. "How long was I out for?"
"You were out for two days." Kasumi answered.
Ranma nearly fell over upon hearing this.
"Woah, that long?" he asked. "It's been quite a while since I was beaten up that badly. Ryoga really had me outmatched."
"Well luckily there wasn't too much serious damage." Kasumi answered. "You probably just felt the way you did since your younger body isn't as strong and thus can't handle larger and more powerful attacks as well."
"That's for sure." Ranma chuckled. "I was nearly taken out after just one hard kick to the stomach. The fact that I was able to win at all was a complete miracle."
Ranma suddenly recalled the last memory he had before he passed out and panicked.
"Hold on, Kasumi." he continued. "Did I just imagine it, or were the last of the mushrooms really destroyed?"
Kasumi's face fell, making Ranma feel uneasy.
"I'm afraid so." she said. "All of our samples of the mushrooms including the backups that Akane and Nabiki had lying around were all destroyed. I'm so sorry."
Ranma was so shocked by the news that he almost passed out once again. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was a small amount of confusion over something that Kasumi had mentioned.
"Wait a minute." he said. "What do you mean by 'backup mushrooms' that Akane and Nabiki 'had lying around'?'"
Kasumi placed her hand over her mouth.
"Oh my, I guess I forgot that you didn't know about that." she said. "But I suppose that there's no use in keeping it a secret now."
"What is it? Tell me already." Ranma blurted out impatiently.
Kasumi took a deep breath before answering.
"The truth is…Akane and Nabiki hid a backup pot of the mushrooms away from you and Ryoga without letting any of us know." she explained. "They said that it was necessary to ensure that you two wouldn't wind up destroying them through another one of your little fights."
Ranma smiled at this.
"Well that's Akane and Nabiki for you." he said. "They always manage to come up with a backup plan. But wait, you just told me that all of the mushrooms were destroyed. How could that have happened if they had a backup pot hidden away?"
Kasumi looked away for a few seconds.
"It'll be easier if you see for yourself." she said. "Let's head back into the house. Can you stand, or do you need me to carry you?"
"I think that I can handle it." Ranma said as he prepared to stand up.
"Okay, but pace yourself." Kasumi warned. "You've been lying completely still for two days, and you were pretty banged up before. If anything starts to hurt, just tell me and I'll carry you the rest of the way."
"That's nice of you, Kasumi, but I'd die of embarrassment if anyone saw me be carried."
Ranma quickly forced himself into a standing position. True to Kasumi's words, his muscles had stiffened up during the two days that he was out, and he thus felt a bit off balance at first. After waving his arms out for a few seconds, he was able to find his center. He slowly took a few steps forward and smiled.
"Well, is everything okay?" Kasumi asked with a look of worry. "Any pain?"
Ranma stretched his body in several directions for a few seconds before doing a standing backflip.
"Surprisingly, no." he answered. "I don't feel a thing. I guess that I must've completely recovered while I was out."
"That's quite amazing." Kasumi said. "I wonder if it has something to do with your new younger age."
"Maybe." Ranma chuckled. "C'mon, let's get going."
Ranma followed Kasumi out of the dojo and they began to make their way back to the house. As they did, Ranma noticed that several areas of the house were covered with scaffolding and white tarps.
"Hey, what's all of that for?" he asked while pointing at it.
"Those are the contractors that we hired to fix up the house." she Kasumi answered. "You and Ryoga did quite a bit of damage fighting over the mushrooms."
Ranma looked down and began to blush.
"Um, sorry about that. Really." he shrugged.
"It's no big deal." Kasumi smiled. "Luckily, there was just enough of the house's structure intact for them to fix it up without a problem. This company only hires the best of the best. We use them every time that there's damage."
Ranma looked back up at Kasumi with a confused expression.
"Wait, every time? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. "Since when have you ever had people over to fix anything? I've never seen them before now."
"Well that's because they usually do their work while you, Akane, and Nabiki are off at school." Kasumi answered. "Besides, it's a necessity. You really didn't think that the house just magically repaired itself or anything, right?"
Ranma looked back down feeling very stupid.
"Well…of course not." he answered. "But I guess I never really gave it much thought."
"Since you and you father moved in here, our house and yard has gotten damaged quite often." Ksaumi continued. "We have to hire them on an almost weekly basis, but they charge a reasonable rate and are very reliable, at least according to Nabiki anyway."
Ranma's face turned bright red.
"I'm really sorry for causing so much trouble." he squeaked out.
Kasumi began to rub Ranma's hair. Ranma was surprised by just how soothing the action felt.
"Don't worry about it." Kasumi said. "Everyone in this house has a role to fill. My job is to take care of everyone, while your job is to be there for Akane until you two get married. A little damage every so often will never dampen my day, but thank you for your concern."
Ranma suddenly realized just how brightly Kasumi appeared to be shining. It had always amazed him just how sane she could appear in spite of all the chaos around her, but it was a much different sight from such a small perspective. From his point of view, Ranma saw Kasumi as a bright, shining angel amidst the dark clouds that had now become his life. Ranma felt very safe and reassured standing by her side, as if somehow being near her would make everything alright.
Kasumi opened the door to the house and the two stepped inside.
"Hey everyone, look who's finally awake." she called out.
Her calls drew the attention of Soun and Genma who were sitting by the porch playing one of their customary games of Shogi. They looked up to see what was going on, during which Soun discreetly switched out two pieces on the board, and smiled brightly when they saw Ranma standing there.
"Ranma." Ganma called out happily.
"He's okay." Soun added.
The two immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed over to greet Ranma properly. Ranma actually stepped back a bit out of fear of the, from his perspective, two giant figures that were coming at him at such high speeds. Soun reached Ranma first and wasted no time in picking him up. He then proceeded to hug Ranma while rubbing his face on Ranma's face.
"Oh Son, I'm so happy that you finally recovered." Soun said while letting out a few tears. "We don't know what we would've done if anything happened to you."
What was supposed to be a comforting moment was anything but for Ranma, who was cringing at the feeling of Soun's stubble and mustache rubbing against his face.
"Ow."he thought."This hurts even more than it looked the other day when he did it to Ryoga."
Genma quickly snatched Ranma out of Soun's hands.
"Come now, Tendo. He is my son after all." Genma said.
"My apologies, Saotome." Soun said with a bow. "I guess that I just got a bit excited there."
Genma directed his attention towards Ranma.
"Ranma, my boy. It's good to see that you made a full recovery." he said. "I was worried there for a while that we might end up losing you."
Unlike Soun, Genma did not express that much affection, or even try to hug Ranma. Ranma knew to never expect such treatment from his father, as Genma had always been this way for as long as he could remember. He was so used to it by now that it hardly even phased him anymore, but there was always a small lingering voice in the back of his head that always groaned whenever Genma acted like this. Soun had no problem being openly emotional and caring, even to someone who wasn't his own child, so why couldn't Genma be the same way? Every time that Ranma had asked his father about this when he was younger, Genma simply told him that such things were unmanly and that he shouldn't bring it up again. Ranma had quickly learned to keep his mouth shut, but he always wondered how much better his life could be if Genma would just learn to open up a bit.
Genma quickly set Ranma back down on the floor and looked at Kasumi.
"So, is Ranma up to date with everything that's happened?" he asked.
"I was just about to let him know about the mushrooms." Kasumi answered. "You two go back to your game, I got this."
Soun and Genma smiled brightly.
"Thanks a bunch." Genma said.
"You're the best, Kasumi." Soun added.
The two raced back to the board to continue their game. As Genma began to look over the board to make his move, he became a bit confused, then angry, at what he saw.
"Hey, the board wasn't like this before." he yelled.
Soun simply chuckled with a nervous smile that seemed to make Genma even angrier. Before they could see anything else, Kasumi grabbed Ranma's hand and began to lead him towards the dining room.
"You were asking before about how the mushrooms were destroyed, well this is where it happened." Kasumi said while gesturing towards the room. "This is where they were being kept at the time."
Ranma looked into the room and was shocked at what he saw. Several patches on both the walls and the floor were covered with several tarps indicating that they had recently been repaired. The table which was always used for dining had been split in half and laid upside down against the far side of the wall. Ranma was more than a bit surprised at seeing this particular table destroyed.
"That's quite the shocking development."he thought."I never would've thought that that table was capable of breaking. Akane's probably hit me over the head with that thing at least a dozen times, and I've never seen so much as a crack appear in it."
Ranma looked more carefully at the spot where the table had previously stood and noticed that there was a tarp covering it as well. A closer inspection revealed the tarp sinking slightly, which indicated the presence of a freshly created crater. Wondering where it came from, Ranma looked up and noticed a large hole in the ceiling which was also covered up with a tarp. He quickly turned to look at Kasumi.
"So…I take it that something fell through the ceiling and destroyed both the table as well as the mushrooms?" he asked.
"Yes, that's correct." Kasumi nodded.
"I wonder what it could've been." Ranma said. "It's very rare to have something just fall from the sky like that, and even rarer for it to be something that has enough force to cause this much damage. Tell me, what was it?"
"Believe it or not, the thing which fell through the ceiling was Ryoga." Kasumi chuckled.
Ranma's blood turned to ice upon hearing this.
"Did you just say…Ryoga?" he asked nervously.
"I did." Kasumi answered. "Shortly before Akane returned home with you, he just suddenly crashed through the ceiling and landed on the table. He looked pretty banged up, but he woke up after a few hours. I guess that he's just as fast of a healer as you are."
Although Kasumi's words carried a playful tone, they instead caused Ranma to develop a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Ryoga…fell through the ceiling with enough force to break the Tendo's dinner table."he thought nervously."That only could've happened if he was falling from a very high place. There are no nearby structures high enough that he could've jumped off of or been knocked off of to ram into the ground with such force. But then…that could only mean…"
"You know, something about this still fails to add up for me." Kasumi continued. "No matter how hard I think about it, I just cannot figure out how Ryoga would've ended up so high up in the sky in the first place. What do you think, Ranma? Do you have any idea of how Ryoga ended up in such a position?"
Kasumi's words carried a hint of blissful ignorance, though hearing them was causing Ranma to internally panic.
"This isn't good."he thought."The only way that Ryoga could've ended up falling from such a height was after I knocked him up that high with the Hiryu Shoten Ha. I wasn't paying attention to what direction he would be flying in when I launched the attack, but I was backed into a corner and didn't have time to consider something like that. That means…the reason that the mushrooms were destroyed…is because of me. It's all my fault."
Ranma watched as Kasumi continued to silently ponder over possible scenarios.
"So far, it doesn't seem like Kasumi has figured it out yet."he thought."There were no other witnesses to that final attack. I don't know if Akane saw it, but if she had I'm sure that she would've already said something by now. There is Ryoga, but…"
"Hey hold on, where is Ryoga at by the way." he asked. "You said that he was pretty banged up when he crash landed here, but I haven't seen him anywhere. Is he sleeping upstairs or something?"
Although Ranma was referring to the idea of Ryoga recuperating in one of the spare rooms upstairs, he gritted his teeth at the possibility that Ryoga had activated his curse and had been sleeping in bed with Akane again as P-chan for the last two nights.
"Well now that you mention it, I really don't know where he is at the moment." Kasumi answered.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ranma asked.
"We actually put him in the dojo with you while I was tending to your wounds." Kasumi answered. "By the time that I went to go check on the two of you the next morning, he was gone. His futon was empty. All that was left was a small puddle of water that leaked in during an overnight downpour. We haven't heard from him since, but I guess that's just how he is. He's destined to come to town, pop into our lives for a short time, and then continue on his journey until the cycle repeats itself."
Ranma narrowed his eyes.
"Has Akane said anything about seeing P-chan over the last few days?" he asked.
"Oh yes." Kasumi answered cheerfully. "Akane found him outside yesterday right before she left for school. He's likely napping upstairs while he waits for Akane to come home for the day."
"Yeah, that's just what I'd expect from the likes of him." Ranma said with a slightly mocking tone.
"In any event, the repairs should be done sooner rather than later, and then things can finally go back to normal around here."
"Yeah, except for the fact that I'm currently stuck as a six year old child." Ranma said dryly.
Kasumi quickly kneeled down and began to hug Ranma from behind, surprising him.
"Don't you worry, everything will be okay." she said. "It doesn't matter what age you currently are, it's my duty to ensure that every single member of my family is taken care of. And as long as you're staying under our roof, you'll always be considered a member of our family as well. If you need help with anything in the meantime, don't hesitate to ask and I will do everything in my power to provide it."
Ranma turned around and smiled.
"Kasumi." he said, extremely touched by her kindness. "Thanks for saying that. Do you…mind if I give you a little hug back."
Kasumi's mouth dropped open in shock, and Ranma's face began to turn bright red.
"Um, I didn't mean it as anything weird or nothing." he stammered out. "I was just, uh…"
Kasumi opened her arms.
"I think I understand." she said. "Go ahead and hug away."
Ranma was surprised by Kasumi's complete willingness to go through with this, but smiled and wrapped his tiny arms around her torso the best he could. He closed his eyes and felt Kasumi's arms hugging him back. The two stayed like this for several seconds.
"This feels so nice."he thought."I don't know why I suddenly had the urge to do this, but it felt so wrong not to ask at the very least. Maybe it's some sort of side effect of this younger body, but I couldn't care in the slightest. Pop never hugs me whatsoever, and Mom's never in my life long enough to do so. She'd likely not even bother since she'd probably consider it unmanly for me to even ask her."
Ranma suddenly became aware of just how much larger Kasumi's body was compared to his own.
"It's definitely going to take some time to get used to this new perspective, but I can't deny how soothing it feels being hugged by someone bigger and older than you, especially when it's somebody as caring as her."
Ranma and Kasumi broke off the hug after a few more seconds. Shortly afterwards, they heard the front door opening.
"I'm home." a female voice called out.
"Oh good, Akane's back from school." Kasumi said with a smile. "We're in here."
Ranma turned around and began to panic.
"This is bad."he thought."When she sees that I'm awake, she'll likely get angry at me for destroying the mushrooms. I can barely handle that temper of hers at my normal age. While I'm like this, I won't stand a chance."
Ranma quickly hid behind Kasumi's dress and gripped at it tightly. Kasumi glanced at him with a surprised expression.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.
Ranma didn't answer, instead doing his best not to look in the direction of Akane's footsteps. Akane soon entered the room.
"Welcome home Akane. How was school?"
"Pretty much the same as always." Akane answered while setting down her bag. "Enough about me though, what about Ranma? Is he doing better?"
Kasumi smiled and stepped to the side, exposing Ranma's hiding place.
"See for yourself." she said while gesturing to Ranma with her hands.
Akane looked at Ranma, and this caused Ranma to gulp out of fear. Not knowing how Akane would react to something he said or did was scarier than what the actual reaction would eventually be. All of a sudden, Akane smiled and ran up to Ranma.
"Ranma, you're awake." she called out.
Before Ranma could react, Akane picked him up and began to hug him tightly. Unlike the more gentler Kasumi, Akane always did everything with as much strength as she could muster right from the start. While this made her an incredibly strong fighter, it also made her extremely mediocre at anything that was considered even remotely feminine in nature such as cooking, sewing, cleaning, and especially hugging. Ranma felt as if his spine was being pressed down by a one-hundred kilogram weight, and even heard it starting to crack a bit. He would've cried out in pain except for the fact that Akane had also squeezed all of the air out of his lungs. Akane was completely oblivious to Ranma's suffering and continued to hold him tight.
"Oh thank goodness." she said. "I was so worried that you were never going to wake up."
A slight gurgling sound came out of Ranma's mouth, and this caught Kasumi's attention.
"Akane, let him go before he suffocates." she said.
Akane looked down at Ranma and noticed that his face was starting to turn blue. She quickly placed him on the ground and backed up slightly. Ranma began to take several deep breaths as Akane bowed out of embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I guess that I was just a bit overwhelmed at seeing you back on your feet." she stammered out.
The color returned to Ranma's face as he got his breathing under control.
"Hey, are you trying to kill me or something?" he yelled. "That brute strength of yours is enough to crack my spine on the most normal of days. As I am now, you could've paralyzed me. Since you were the first one to see how much I was beat up during my fight with Ryoga's, I'd assume that you'd know better than to assume that I still have the same level of strength I've always had. But I guess that would be asking too much from the likes of you."
Akane's face turned bright red as her face contorted into an angry scowl.
"Excuse me." she yelled.
Akane opened her mouth to say something else, only to freeze. After a second or two, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed her expression. Her face quickly returned to its usual color.
"No, this isn't the time for that." she said. "After everything that's happened, it's only natural that you would be in a bad mood."
Ranma became very confused at Akane's sudden change in attitude.
"That's strange. Why is she acting so forgiving all of a sudden?"he thought.
"I assume that Kasumi told you what happened with the mushrooms?" Akane asked.
"Um, yeah." Ranma answered. "She told me how there was an extra pot that you and Nabiki set aside which was destroyed after Ryoga came crashing through the ceiling."
Akane closed her eyes.
"In that case, it would seem that you're all caught up." she said. "It would seem that there's only one thing that you left out, and I think that it's about time we got it out into the open."
Ranma backed up slightly, as Akane was beginning to look very scary from his perspective.
"This is it. This is the moment I die."he thought."She knows that I was the one who sent Ryoga flying, and now she's going to kill me for it."
Without changing her expression, Akane began to walk towards Ranma. Ranma tried to back up further, only to be halted by Kasumi who held him from behind. He looked at her with his scared expression, trying to make her understand the danger he was in. Kasumi simply gave him a smile that was meant to be reassuring but came off to Ranma as anything but. Turning back around, Ranma closed his eyes and prepared for his death.
All of a sudden, Akane collapsed onto her knees and grabbed Ranma's ankles, causing him to open his eyes in confusion.
"I'm so sorry, please forgive me." she cried out.
"Wait, what?" Ranma asked.
Akane looked Ranma directly in the eye, and Ranma's mouth dropped open. Akane was actually crying heavily, which was quite the rare thing for her to do in front of other people. Ranma felt a bit scared at this. He knew how to handle the times when she got angry. By contrast, he was completely unprepared for something as bizarre as Akane bawling like a baby in front of him.
"It's all my fault that the mushrooms were destroyed." she answered. "You're stuck as a child because I let my guard down and was too careless."
"Huh? Are you talking about that mushroom which was destroyed after my fight with Ryoga?" Ranma asked. "C'mon Akane, that was just a freak accident. It could've happened to anyone."
Akane quickly wiped her eyes and began to sit on the back of her calves.
"No, I'm talking about the extra pot that we had stored in here." she answered. "It's because of my carelessness that it was destroyed."
Ranma's mouth dropped open, though he hid this with both of his hands.
"She really blames herself for that?"he thought.
"Akane, I think that you have the wrong idea about…"
Akane suddenly placed her finger in front of Ranma's mouth to silence him.
"No no, don't say anything else." she said. "I know that it's my fault because I ignored Nabiki's suggestion that we get another pot ready just in case."
Ranma didn't say anything as Akane took her finger off of his lips.
"I thought that we were safe because you and Ryoga were far away from the house." Akane continued. "We had a mushroom that could be used to return you to normal, and a well-hidden pot placed in the safest spot in the house that it could be. Even if anything happened to that sample, I don't think that anyone could've expected that Ryoga would wind up falling back in here and wind up destroying the extra pot. This never would've happened if I had just been a little bit more open to reason. Everything that Nabiki said made perfect sense, and I did everything in my power to convince her that her suggestion was unnecessary. She also blames herself for not taking the initiative to make a backup pot sooner, but I'm the one who's really to blame for all of this."
Akane suddenly gripped onto Ranma's hands.
"Akane, you don't need to…" Ranma started.
"Listen." Akane interrupted. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make this right. I'll help you search for a cure, but more importantly, I'm going to learn to be more attentive to what other people are saying. From now on, I promise that I'll try to listen to what you're saying and not overreact at every small provocation. I can't imagine the pain that you must be in right now, but me getting upset for some pitiful reason is not going to help make things any better. So let's tackle this thing head on, what do you say?"
Ranma blinked a few times in confusion. Akane was actually apologizing to him of all things and saying that she was going to try working on her temper and listening skills. It was like something straight out of a dream.
"It's quite ironic that she says that she's going to try listening more when she kept interrupting my attempts to explain that she was in the wrong."he thought."I don't know how long she'll be able to keep this up. Even so, it feels kind of nice that she's genuinely making an effort to better herself. Who would've thought that all it would take to bring us close like this would be a lift-shifting event of this scale?"
"Sure Akane. I'm all for it." he said with a smile.
Akane giggled a bit and pulled Ranma into another hug. For a brief instant, she nearly her full strength again before pulling back slightly and simply letting her arms rest against Ranma's torso. Ranma smiled as he hugged Akane back.
"She really can be so cute sometimes when she wants to be."he thought.
Ranma and Akane's bliss was interrupted when Soun placed his hand on Akane's shoulder. Breaking off from their hug, the two noticed that both Soun and Genma had entered the room.
"It's great to see you kids getting along." Genma said.
"Even so, this isn't the time for it." Soun added. "There's something that we need to discuss with you two in private. So if you'd please, come with us."
Ranma and Akane looked at each other nervously. Any time that both of their fathers had something to talk about with the only two of them, it was never anything good. The first time that this had happened, the two had wound up becoming engaged to one another.
End of Chapter 2
1/11/2024
Special thanks to my biggest supporters: Homura VanRoyen, sudowiki
Hi Everyone. As promised, here is the second chapter of this story posted only a few days after the first.
You may noticed that this chapter is about half the length of the first chapter, and this was done intentionally. At least at first, this story is designed to work with shorter chapters than The Oyama Project due to their focus on specific events. I was originally going to include the next scene with Genma and Soun, but decided to save it for the next chapter since it didn't really fit with the rest of the chapter's tone. I was originally planning to split the first chapter into two parts, but decided to keep it together since it acted perfectly as a double-length setup for the main plotline, akin to the 80'-90's-00's era of Star Trek TV shows. Subsequent chapters may follow a similar length or possibly a bit longer, but I don't see them reaching a length of 35 pages for the foreseeable future.
You'll probably notice that this chapter carries a much different tone from the first, and this was intentional. This chapter is much more fluff and slice of life compared to the first chapter, with a greater focus on heartwarming elements which I really enjoy writing. It may seem like a bit of a shift, and a few characters actions may seem a bit off, but it is all for a purpose that will become clear in time. I was primarily trying to create an atmosphere where multiple characters blame themselves for what happened to the mushrooms, and this allows for real emotional growth. These elements also set up a few plotlines further down the road, particularly in terms of Ranma's emotional development that comes from suddenly ending up in a younger body. I won't spoil anything though. For now, you'll just have to guess what's to come. Stay tuned as there's a great deal on the way.
I know that I said that this chapter would include some elements from the original fic, but the structure of the plot has delayed those to the next chapter as well. It's all of the best in the end as I feel they will work better though. We are still at least two chapters away from crossing over into Ichinensei ni Nacchattara, but I promise that it will be well worth it in the end.
You will have to wait a bit for the next chapter though, as I will now pivot back to the next chapter of The Oyama Project. The schedule that I have set up for myself is that after one chapter of The Oyama Project is finished, I allow myself one week to work on as many chapters of this story as possible. The shorter chapter length means that multiple chapters can be released during this period. Thus, you can expect at least one chapter of this story to be released in the week after each chapter of The Oyama Project. Stay tuned, as I promise that the wait will be well worth it.
Please be sure to like and comment on this chapter as any feedback you give me is extremely helpful to me as an aspiring writer.
If you enjoy what you've seen so far and you're interested in seeing more, consider checking out my other stories.
I'd like to thank you all for your encouraging likes, follows, and comments, and stay tuned for Chapter 3, coming soon.