One-Thousand Men Pt. 3
The next two months were possibly the worst in Akane's life.
He thought almost dying for a second time was the absolute worst thing to ever happen - she didn't want to return to that meadow yet - but life had a way of reminding him that there could be much worse.
Akane had gotten out of the hospital a week after she had woken up, as the doctors had promised. She had almost full use of her arms back at the three-week mark - save for heavier items and bringing her fist to clench fully. They had both been relieved, figuring it wouldn't be too long before she fully recovered. The Doctors, at one point, had warned that it was very possible she would not be able to fully walk again - not like before - but ended up pleasantly surprised at the one-month mark when she was able to use the crutches on her own. They said such a quick recovery couldn't be possible, which had made Ranma grin in triumph. They said she should be completely recovered by the three-month mark, but she had shocked them once again and had cut the time to two.
They would see Keiko daily, taking turns to watch and hold her. One of them occasionally went home to bathe off the grime that had accumulated with around-the-clock care. Ranma would some days spend a few hours in the dojo to work off stress and keep his strength up. Their families visited often, but their time with them lessened, seemingly assuming Keiko would be able to leave soon. Ranma and Akane still weren't sure. Her father and Nodoka still stopped by daily to spend an hour or two with their granddaughter. Genma had only visited once.
There seemed to be an increasing fondness between Nodoka and Soun that Ranma didn't want to think about too much, but Akane would gossip about it to him and her sisters often.
The worst part about it all was their constant fighting.
They seemed to scream at each other all the time. There was no teasing, no playful punches that hid a certain desire; it was just raw fury. They were exhausted - both mentally and physically - and there was no way to find any levity between each other that they had once had. Tensions had been too high.
Mousse had stopped by the hospital once when Akane was still a resident. He had brought flowers for Akane, and Ranma had been about to leap at the glasses-clad man before Akane yipped at him to stop. She didn't want it to turn out that Ranma could no longer be allowed in the hospital.
The bespectacled man raised his hands in surrender and offered the flowers to Akane. She tried to reach for them to tell him to come closer but ended up wincing. Mousse gave a twisted grimace. He bowed to the two of them and grunted, "I'm sorry."
Ranma had taken a menacing step towards him, arms crossed, and had asked, "And what the hell are you sorry for?" A snort escaped him. "Don't tell me a loser like you convinced Shampoo to try and kill my wife?"
Mousse shot up and looked at Ranma with an incredulous look as he shouted "No!"
"Ranma," Akane had chided. As much as Ranma disapproved, he knew his kind (well, if he didn't piss her off) wife was the closest thing to a friend Mousse had in this country.
"I wanted to stop her," Mousse conceded with regret, "but Cologne trapped me." He frowned as he said, "I knew it was wrong. I couldn't stop it."
Akane had smiled at him in an understanding manner that made Ranma fume. "Those two certainly have a way about them, don't they?"
"Akane Tendo," Mousse started as he took a step towards her that Ranma quickly cut off with a cutting glare. Mousse sized Ranma up and sighed in understanding. "I know it doesn't make anything different, but Shampoo never wanted to hurt you." He swallowed, "That's why you aren't dead."
"I know," Akane croaked. "Tradition, right?"
Mousse nodded his confirmation. "But it's more than that."
Ranma raised a brow and asked incredulously, "Oh, so she just goes around killing pregnant women for fun?"
Mousse's frown deepened. "No," he answered shortly, "but Cologne played her hand."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked gruffly.
"I mean…" he sighed and adjusted his ridiculously thick glasses, "that Cologne - when she learned about your… pregnancy," he winced, "told her that if this continued, she would have to go back to our village and tell the elders about it."
Ranma scoffed, "Yeah? And that means you get to try and kill my wife and child?"
Mousse shook his head ferociously. "I know it doesn't make it any better, but if that happened, the elders would send others to kill her." Ranma noticed that Mousse's hands were rigidly clenched. "In our tradition… well… it's," he looked at the two, "I'm sure you can imagine it's not a quick death."
"That's not my problem," Ranma coldly stated.
Mousse nodded. "As much as I would stalk you down and kill you, I wouldn't blame you if you tried to kill her." His eyes narrowed. "I would do the same if the tables were flipped."
"Why are you here, Mousse?" Akane asked tiredly. Mousse began to approach her and Ranma went to stand in front of her, his muscles tensed. Akane could see it in his eyes: he didn't kill Shampoo, but he would make sure to make an example of Mousse.
"Ranma. Stop." Akane demanded. His shoulders slacked and he gave Mousse a glare that read, 'If you try to touch her, I'll kill you. And not quickly.'
Mousse picked up on this quickly and gave a vulnerable smile. He kneeled by Akane and handed her the flowers that she tried to grab, but her strength hadn't met up with her earnestness yet. Mousse placed the flowers by her bed. "Akane Tendo," he started.
"You can just call me Akane, Mousse," she said with a small smile. He gave her a tender smile back.
"Akane, then," he admonished. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I wanted to stop it, but that crone stopped me - I'm sure you know how." Akane nodded. "Akane Tendo -"
"Akane," she corrected again, her eyes half-lidded.
"Akane," he said with a little nod, "I want you to know that you were the best friend I had in Japan."
"I know, Mousse."
He took in a gulping breath and then said in rapid fire, "You looked at me kindly, no matter what scheme I cooked up. You told me never to give up. You encouraged me. The two of us - I think - were unstoppable." A few genuine tears fell down his face. "Please believe me that if I could stop it, I would have - you believe that?" Akane nodded, and he sighed in relief. "I'll never forget you, Akane."
She reached over, wincing once, and touched his hand. "Where are you going to go, Mousse?" She asked softly. "Are you going to chase after her?"
He shook his head slowly. "I don't know where they went," he croaked, "I understand tradition - I live by that, but…" he looked at her sternly, "as much as she pretended she didn't care about you. She did. Please believe that." Akane nodded limply. He sighed again in relief. "Akane," he croaked.
Akane's eyes watered. "Are you going to go back to your village?"
He shook his head again and said in an almost inaudible tone, "I can't." He closed his hands tightly around her. "I'll never forget you, Akane Tendo."
She hiccuped as tears fell from her unyielding chestnut eyes, and she reached for him. He took her gently in his arms and cried against her neck. Ranma had a moment when he thought of throwing Mousse through the window but decided against it. He watched Akane's fingers twitch behind Mousse's back and tears streamed quietly down her face. And then Mousse was gone without nary a goodbye to Ranma.
—
Akane and Ranma sat in two stiff wooden chairs. Ranma noticed idly that Akane's knees bounced up and down in an anxious manner. He thought about reaching over and placing a protective hand on her knee but decided against it. He hadn't earned it, yet. "How much longer?" She sniffed.
Ranma groaned, "It's not Tofu's office - that's for sure."
Akane gave a small nervous chuckle that had Ranma's heart racing. After a month since that awful fight, she seemed to be more inclined to give him unguarded reactions. He felt like they were back to square one. Back when he first met her she hated all men - except that he was sure he was the only man she hated now.
—
They had gotten home from one of their visits with Keiko. It was dark out and the house was eerily quiet. Akane wondered briefly if her father was staying at the Saotome's house this evening, or if he and Genma had gone out drinking - though it seemed the two men were doing that sort of thing less and less in the last year. If she wasn't so tired, she would have thought that maybe it had to do with how close her father and her auntie were getting. Then again Ranma's father was as obtuse as he was lazy.
"Are you hungry?" Ranma asked gruffly as he slipped into his house shoes. "I can make us something easy."
Akane was peeling off her last shoe. She was excited to slip on the others and take a bath. She stuck out her tongue and said, "I don't know if I can do another night of instant ramen."
Ranma tsked and muttered, "Well maybe if you knew how to cook more than a bowl of rice…"
Akane threw him a look, eyes glowered, "I'm sorry? Did you have something to say?"
Ranma whipped back, eyes shining with annoyance. "I said maybe if we could share cooking duties every once in a while, I wouldn't be too tired to make anything that isn't ramen!" He crossed his arms over his chest and leered at her. "But nah, you're so useless in the kitchen, it comes down to me. Otherwise, we would eat pickled vegetables and rice every day - so how about showing some gratitude."
Akane's eyes narrowed at him as she kicked on her other house shoe and went to step out of the foyer. "Oh, is that so?" She sniffed, "Ranma Saotome: the perfect man!"
"Well, I'm a lot better than you, that's for sure." He grunted as he shook his head turned from her and began walking down the hallway. Akane limped behind him. She knew she should go upstairs, hop in the bath, and calm down - but she was so tired and hungry and angry, it was like her body was begging her to release these feelings in some way.
They entered the kitchen and Ranma grabbed the kettle and filled it with water. "Oh yeah? And how do you figure that? You're just some man-child! You're the most stubborn and selfish person I've ever met!"
He roughly placed the kettle on the stove and cranked the heat before turning on his heels to face her. "How do ya figure that? Everything I do is for you!"
Akane scoffed, "Yeah, like all those times when you'd flirt with Ukyo or Shampoo. That was certainly for me."
Ranma raised an incredulous brow. "You really gonna bring up something six years ago?"
"Yeah, I am!" She snarled as she crossed her arms. "Or those month-long training trips! Those are for me, too - huh?"
Ranma rolled his eyes and leaned against the stove. "Well one of us has to be strong enough to fight off intruders."
Akane's mouth went dry and her vision flickered. She saw white spots trickle down her eyes like snowflakes, and then her vision was black - she began to chuckle. It was low as she huskily said, "I'm sorry - you're trying to blame me for what happened?"
Ranma winced and seemed hesitant, but then gave a stubborn nod.
An inescapable pained chuckle ripped through her throat and she laughed so hard she thought she might puke. Her eyes were snapped shut to keep the tears from the force of her laughter held down. "You really want to play this game?"
Ranma straightened up. "And what game is that?"
Akane's head snapped upward and she held Ranma's gaze as she took a step towards him. "Shampoo was your fiance that you should have taken care of years ago!"
Ranma frowned, "Yeah, but it has been years since anything had happened. I figured she would have moved on, or, y'know, would have uh…" he scratched the back of his head, "just sort of… hung around forever…"
Akane shook her head. "Of course you did. You think everyone should do whatever you think, right? Just like how you wouldn't train me - even after Jusenkyo!" Ranma winced. "All you ever did was dodge me, or run away, or play a trick so I could never learn more. You kept saying 'Don't worry about it, you don't have anything to worry about with me around," she sucked in her cheeks, "Well, I guess you were wrong about that! You were always wrong about that! And Shampoo proves that - Keiko and I could have died because of your ego!"
Ranma growled and took a step towards her. "Watch it, Akane."
She rolled her eyes. "Watch what? You throw a hissy fit because you know I'm right and you can't stand that?"
"I mean, you don't want to go down this road," he warned.
Akane smirked at the challenge. "Did I hurt your feelings? Is that it? To know each time I've gotten hurt it was because of your selfishness? Your ego? Your need to always prove everyone else wrong?"
Ranma's lips turned into a snarl. It was almost as close to the look he had given Shampoo. "I'm serious, Akane." Akane knew she needed to stop, but it felt so good to be angry at something, to watch him react this way, to show some kind of pain like she felt he had caused her. Not just for this, but for everything. For every insecurity he had caused, every tear she had ever spilled over him, for every time she had risked her life for him even though he called her useless.
Two months of grief were spilling out of her, and she couldn't stop herself.
"What? Did I hit the nail on the head? Is that it?" She smirked coldly. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I wanted to marry you so badly. Why anyone would." The moment the words left her lips, she regretted them. Her eyes softened and her lips parted. "I'm sorry! I… I was angry and I…" she bowed her head, "I'm sorry."
She looked back up and could feel Ranma's furious aura circle the room. She felt chilled at the energy. "Are you done?" He asked with a coldness he had never directed towards her before, even during their fights. Akane nodded sheepishly. "Good, because I have some things I want to say to you." He took another step towards her. "I might have an ego, but everything I ever did was for you - and maybe I was wrong before, but I'm still better than you!" He took in a deep breath. "Your violent, you suck at cooking, you're terrible at everything you do - literally everything. The best thing you ever could do was fix injuries and you still suck at them." He leered towards her. "And you're right! I never did want to train you because I knew you were too weak! You played with boys in the schoolyard, but I fight actual martial artists - something you'll never be able to do."
Akane looked at him wide-eyed and her throat fell into her stomach. She could feel the adrenaline begin to sweep through her body and her hands trembled against her side. "You made your point."
Ranma glared at her. "Did I? Because I don't think you get it: you should be thanking your lucky stars every day I decide to stick around." He pushed his hands through his bangs. "I should have left that first day I showed up here. I wasted the last nine years of my life in this shitty town. And for what? You?"
Akane winced. "Ranma," she said in a pleading tone, "don't say something you can't take back."
She could see he was past hearing anything she was saying. He folded his arms across his chest again and stood straight so he was towering above her. "You know, if I wanted to, I could have any girl I wanted." His voice was ice. "I could go to Ucchan's right now and ask her to take me back, and she would. Hell, I could even go to China and-"
The whistle of the kettle timed itself with the piercing sound of her hand swiping across his cheek. His head cocked to the side from the blow, and his eyes went wide as if he had realized what he had just said. He held his reddening cheek and stared at the floor as if trying to find the answers there. His mouth opened and shut like a trout and jutted his jaw back and forth as he tried to work the sore muscles. He looked back at her wide-eyed. "Akane, I -"
"No," her voice trembled as her vision blurred from the tears that were spilling down her cheeks, "you made your point."
—
The door creaked open as the doctor walked in. He was an older man, at least 65 years old and five feet tall. His face was clean shaven and his hair was stark white. He walked with a hobble that didn't come from natural age, but instead from hard work. He went to his side of the desk and plopped down. He held the file in front of him and opened it tantalizingly slow. He read it briefly and then turned his grey eyes to the two parents. "Ranma and Akane Saotome?"
"Yes," Akane answered quickly.
The man returned his attention to the file. He scanned it again and asked, "And your daughter is Keiko Saotome?"
"Yes," Ranma answered just as quickly. Instinctually, his hand had grabbed Akane's. She winced but didn't pull away.
The older man hummed and traced his fingers along the words in the file. Finally, he looked up and smiled. "Well, I'm happy to tell you I have good news." Akane squeezed his hand.
"What is it, Doctor?" She asked imploringly.
"Keiko made a full recovery. She can go home tomorrow as long as she passes our remaining tests."
Both let out a breath of relief they didn't know they had held. Their hands were squeezed so tight, that neither could feel their fingers.
"Thank you!" Akane cried. Tears trickled down her face.
"Thank you," Ranma said, slightly more hesitant. He looked at Akane and she reached over quickly and wiped the tears he was vaguely aware had trickled down his face. She leaped into his arms to hold him closely.
The doctor coughed uncomfortably and raised himself. "Yes, good news. I'll leave you to it."
—
Once home, after she called out to see if anyone was home, she turned to him and hungrily kissed his face. He went to stand back in shock, but she quickly threw her arms around the back of his neck and her legs wrapped around his midsection. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms underneath her to hold her. "Akane?" He asked cautiously.
She drew her mouth to the edge of his chin and mumbled, "I want you."
He thought, for a moment, about pushing her away and asking what the hell she was talking about, but it had been over three months since they had sex and he could feel his want growing.
"I want to feel you." She conceded. "I want to forget."
His shoulders stiffened, and his mouth dried. The idea of making love to his wife felt guilty with his child still in the hospital.
But she was coming home soon.
He understood her want. Her need to touch skin on skin. Desperate and needy. She pulled back, her knees squeezing him and causing a lingering pain that her now functioning legs gave her, and her face betrayed, making his guilt spill out of him. "I'm sorry," he said with a quiver in his lips, "for what I said - you were right - I said something I can't take back."
She brought her head to his shoulder so he couldn't look at her, but she felt immense pain. "I can't talk about that right now," she whimpered. He kissed the top of her head.
"I - I wanted you to feel… like me."
Hurt.
"I wanted you to hate me."
Like I hated you at that moment.
Akane nodded against his shoulder and bit her lip as a tear fell, betraying her. She rubbed her cheek against his shirt to hide the tear, though she knew her red eyes would give her away. She looked back up at him and cradled his head in her hands. "Stop talking," she begged before kissing him on the lips. "I need you to stop. Talking."
He opened his mouth to argue, but then she removed her shirt up and over her head and leaned down to mash her lips against his, her tongue desperate to reach the crevice of his mouth. He moved to push her against the wall by the stairs that would lead to their bedroom and she gasped as the thud of her skin slammed into the wood. She pulled away from him and mustered "More." He growled, his dick twitching uncomfortably as one hand flew under her skirt and the other grabbed her bra and pulled the cup down.
She pressed her breast against his mouth and he gently dragged his mouth against her nipple. The eroticism of doing this in the foyer, made him both turned on but also scared.
"Hold me tighter," she muttered. Ranma ignored her cries and tightened his grip as his mouth greedily pressed against the mounds of her breasts, licking and sucking on them.
He could tell she thought of teasing him, he was too eager, but with a nip at her nipple, she threw her head back, holding him tightly. "Kiss me again," she begged. He complied and brought his lips from her hardened nipples to hers. She pressed against his member and he forced himself against her,
There was a part of her who knew this was weird. That they needed to stop, but she was clawing at him desperately. "Akane," he whispered against her.
"Stop," she murmured, "please. I need this."
He grunted and pushed against her, his finger working quickly to remove her panties. He huffed in frustration as they snagged against her ankles. He pressed his lips harshly against her neck. "Are you sure?" He asked as he carefully unbuttoned the toggles of his shirt. He pressed his hard chest against hers as he awkwardly maneuvered himself to keep ahold of her waist and brought the shirt off his body. He tugged at her skirt, not waiting for her to reply. Desperate.
"You always have me," she mustered with a blush that raced down to her breasts. "Always." She repeated with punctuation, "Hold me?"
He wrapped an arm tighter around her and pressed his forehead to her neck. He pulled down the drawstring of his pants and aligned himself with her entrance as he held her body to the wall. He moved against her, pushing and pulling inside of her. "I'm so sorry," he groaned as he kissed her cheek.
"I know," she cried as he slammed himself into her again. She made a tiny yelp.
"I never meant it," he said softly, his fingers drawing lines against her neck. "I love you,"
"I know," she whispered, and she grabbed his hand and had him wrap it firmly across her neck.
—
"You're going to like it here, I just know it," Ranma stated as he turned the corner of the street and saw the Tendo Dojo from a distance. "I mean, I know you've been here, but you haven't gotten to see the place." He chuckled. "It can get pretty crazy here, but that's sort of calmed down, no thanks to me."
"Are you going to scare her on her first day?" Akane asked as she walked beside him with a smile as she pushed the baby carriage. Ranma was alternating between walking in front of them and stopping every few seconds to bow down and look into the carriage where a little black-haired balding baby sucked on their chubby hands.
Ranma looked up at her and grinned, "Think of it as orientation. Wouldn't be fair to let the new guy walk in without a briefing." Akane rolled her eyes and smiled.
They were almost at the entrance before they saw Soun pop out from behind the door. He had no doubt been waiting on the porch, listening out for the sound of their voices. He turned his head and shouted something that sounded like, "They're here!" Before he ran to them at break-neck speed. Even from here, Akane could see her father's fat tears streaming down his face.
He dropped to his knees in front of them and was practically drowning Keiko with his watery eyes. "Oh, my little Coco!" He reached out to hold her before Akane lightly rapt him on the back of the head. "You're going to scare her! We just got her to calm down." As soon as she said it, a rumbling wine turned into a loud screech and Keiko began crying. She groaned and slapped her forehead. "See what you did?"
Soun shook his head and chewed on the front of his shirt to keep from crying out. Akane came around the carriage and gingerly removed the blanket that had thrashed around the baby. She reached down and undid the buckle before cautiously sliding the 10-pound lump out from the carriage. Akane cradled Keiko, placing her hand under the little rump and her hand cautiously on the small of the infant's back. The child's head lobbed lightly against Akane's shoulder.
"Ranma," she started, but Ranma was already around her as he prudently lifted Keikos head up and draped a spit rag along Akane's shoulder before placing her back down. They had only been able to hold her for a few hours before they discovered that spit-up was nearly constant.
"You think she's hungry?" Ranma asked as he smoothed his hands through the baby fuzz on Keiko's head. "Should I get her bottle?"
Akane winced slightly thinking of the formula. Her milk had dried up within a few weeks of Keiko being administered to the hospital. It was an excruciatingly painful sore spot for her. "No, she ate before we left."
"Oh my! May I hold her?" Kasumi asked as she stood behind their father.
Akane thought about it for a moment. She had spent most of the morning passing Keiko between Ranma and herself. They had both marveled at the smoothness of her skin, the powdery smell she gave off, and the gentle pulling of her little fingernails as they'd drag against their bare skin. The second Akane had held her, there was an innate fear that stuck in her throat. She was waiting for someone to take her away again or tell her that they had made a mistake and Keiko would have to go back in that ugly little box. Akane never wanted to let her go again. She had even had a hard time letting Ranma have his chance to hold her.
But this was real. She'd always get to hold her whenever she wanted moving forward.
Keiko continued to scream in Akane's ear as she bounced the little sprout up and down. "Are you sure? She's pretty cranky."
Kasumi placed her hands to her lips to suppress a giggle. "I was always pretty good with babies - mother used to hand you off to me all the time when she'd get tired of your screaming."
Hesitantly, Akane passed Keiko off on Kasumi. Her older sister didn't lie - Keiko quieted immediately, which Akane was very grateful for but also secretly jealous of.
"Huh, so that's the Saotome legacy, eh?" Asked Nabiki as she squeezed her eyes at the now exhausted Keiko. She turned her head to a sleepy panda and commented, "You know you can't sell this one at a pawn shop?" Genma made a growling protest and went to look for his sign.
"I told you that if you want to speak, you need to use your words and not a sign, dear." Nadoka came to her husband's side with the sign he was undoubtedly going to hold snapped in half. The panda paled.
"Akane! Ranma!" Ryoga shouted as he started going in the opposite direction. He was quickly stopped by Akari by her yanking on the collar of his shirt. "This way, Ryoga," she corrected as her baby was strapped to a chest carrier. Akane had met the little boy once. His name was Kaito and he was close to one year old. He had begun to crawl, Akane had been told, but it sounded like he had a tinge of his father's hopelessness for direction.
The three came to Ranma's side, and Ryoga gave a firm slap to the back of Ranma's shoulder. "We heard you were bringing Keiko home - I had Akari lead us here," he beamed proudly.
"Well yeah," Ranma snorted, "how else would someone as directionally challenged as you get here?"
Ryoga's face flickered in mock annoyance and Ranma glared back at him before the two's facades dropped. Akane rolled her eyes. "Honestly," she pouted, "even as friends, you still have to rile each other up."
Ranma and Ryoga looked at her with raised brows, "Well, yeah," Ranma said with a shrug of his shoulder.
"It'd be weird if we didn't," Ryoga agreed.
"Well then," Kasumi started as she held the child out for the next excited pair of hands, which happened to be Soun's. Akane had quickly shot him a look that said, 'no beard rubs', which he seemed to reluctantly understand. "I've got lunch prepared if anyone would like to eat."
Everyone seemed excited about that. Even Soun temporarily lost his interest in Keiko as he handed the baby back to Ranma. Ranma wrapped Keiko in one arm and grabbed Akane's hand in the other. She smiled warmly at him and used her free hand to push the carriage towards the Tendo home.
Their home.
—
A/N: I'm marking this as complete for now as I don't have plans on coming back to this for a long time. I do have an end plan for this, but it may work better as an epilogue. I have one or two new stories in my head but, again, it's probably best to take a break from these characters for a while. Otherwise, thanks for hanging in here with me!