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The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz Communications Inc.)
No copyright infringement is intended.
Briefly, time stood on its end.
The sweet scent of country air mixed with mud, oil, and car exhaust weighted heavily upon the moment. Over the open long straight of the channel, wind gave icy fangs to the cold night air. The roar of thousands of liters of water rushing drummed mightily on its way to Tokyo Harbor.
Against this instant in time, a young girl with long dark hair, hazel eyes, and a dark blue fuku teeteres. Her eyes growing ever wider and frantic as she waves her arms as if to invoke the power of flight. And then the moment passes and she is gone.
"Shiori!" Yuka screamed as her voice finally returned.
She rushed to the bridge's stone rail. Her momentum almost taking her over in her haste to catch sight of her friend. Beneath her lay only inky black waters churning angrily against their colorless confinement.
'No,' Yuka's thoughts bellowed, not wanting to believe her eyes. 'She can't be.'
As the tears welled up in her eyes, a flash of color against the dark grays grabbed her attention.
"Ranma?" Yuka questioned softly. Looking behind her, she found herself alone. Looking back, a flash of red leaps from the embankment over the fence to safety on the other side. Yuka looked behind her once again, then to where the figures landed.
Relief and confusion tore at her until she decided to take a page from her friends book and go over to give the two of them a piece of her mind.
= = = = = = = = = =
"Hey, Ryu. You see what I see," Ken said as he gestured with his chin.
A head of them and on the opposite side of the street a young woman walked. She was dressed in a pair of tight blue-jeans with a golden blouse that hung off her bare shoulders. Her short hair swayed evenly, almost keeping time with her confident strides.
Both boys followed, watching her with hungry eyes.
= = = = = = = = = =
"Here we are," Ranma announced.
"A shrine?" Yuka asked.
"You think some prayer charm is going to help me?" Shiori asked with a pain in her voice.
"No. I told'ya, I wanted ya to meet someone," Ranma responded, then proceeded to knock on the door.
After a moment, the door opened to reveal a young woman dressed in the traditional robes of a temple priestess.
"Hello, welcome to the Itsukyoukai Shrine," the priestess began.
"Hey, Kurumi-chan, Doc in?" Ranma interrupted.
"Have we met?" Kurumi asked with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Ahh," Ranma replied.
"Ranma? Is that you?" a male voice called from inside.
"Hey Doc!" Ranma called back.
"Ranma?" Kurumi repeated as Dr. Tofu appeared behind her in the doorway.
"You brought some friends, I see," Tofu replied in a strange tone of voice.
"Did I come at a bad time?" Ranma asked, perplexed at Tofu's strained greeting.
"No, I'm just surprised, that's all. Why don't the four of you come in before it starts raining."
"Four?" Ranma replied, confused as he turned to look at the girls following him.
"Gaah!" he shouted, prompting Shiori and Yuka to turn.
"N-Nabiki," Yuka stated.
"Did I come at a bad time?" Nabiki asked neutrally while she gave Ranma a look that said he had a lot of explaining to do.
= = = = = = = = = =
Nabiki trailed behind the procession. She didn't know where they were going, or why. In fact, there were a lot of things she didn't know, and that was burning her up inside. Her head was filled with questions. So many questions she didn't know where to begin. Thus, for the moment, she had decided to watch and wait for the moment to jump in.
She was here to find Dr. Tofu, and find him she did. She just didn't count on Ranma or anyone else showing up.
According to Kasumi, Ranma was out looking for Akane. Did that mean Akane knew too?
Yuka and the other girl, Shiori Nabiki thought, didn't appear to know why they were here or expect to see Dr. Tofu.
Ranma had obviously been here before, but that Kurumi girl didn't appear to recognize him.
'What is going on?' Nabiki asked herself for the hundredth time.
Quickly they all seemed to spill into a somewhat modest looking room. Across from the doorway, sat a medium sized desk, littered with books and papers. Another door, perhaps a closet, sat near that. A futon lay rolled up in an empty corner while a sturdy looking bassinet sat against the inner wall.
Ranma headed straight for the bassinet.
"Dr. Tofu?" Kurumi whispered questioningly.
"It's all right," Tofu responded, but Nabiki didn't think his tone was completely certain.
As Ranma reached in, Shiori and Yuka stepped closer. Nabiki stepped up when the two girls gasped.
Ranma was cradling a baby gently in his arms.
"Shiori?" Ranma spoke after a moment.
Both Nabiki and Yuka glanced over at the girl.
"Yes?" Shiori returned timidly.
"Would you like to hold her?"
"Uh," Shiori responded, looking very unsure of what to do or how to answer.
Ranma smiled before gently handing the infant over. Shiori just stood there holding the young child uncertainly for a moment. Slowly a smile worked its way onto her face as she gazed at the bundle of cuteness in her arms.
"What's -um," she began.
"Himiko. She's a girl," Ranma informed her.
Nabiki raised an inquisitive eyebrow but still didn't say anything yet.
"Oh yea, before I forget." Ranma began rummaging through his pockets before producing a white envelope. "Here ya go," Ranma announced as he handed over said item to Dr. Tofu.
"What's that, Ranma?" Nabiki found herself asking.
"Uh," Ranma sputtered, suddenly looking lost. He glanced over at Dr. Tofu.
"It's okay, Ranma. It was bound to get out sooner or later," Dr. Tofu said with a hint of a sigh. "Ranma's been helping me with... well..."
"That's a letter from Kasumi," Ranma added with a slight frown.
"Kasumi?" Nabiki repeated.
"Yes," Dr. Tofu began, "Ranma has been passing letters back and forth between Kasumi and myself."
"Oh really," Nabiki replied in her monotone voice while staring at Ranma. The whole purpose behind this trip and all those months of work had just been turned on its ear. Nabiki wanted answers.
"But I'm guessing this isn't your only reason for visiting now, is it, Ranma?" Dr. Tofu asked as he glanced over at Yuka and Shiori, who where in turn watching them.
"Oh no, please go ahead," Shiori responded, slightly nervously.
She decided to let Dr. Tofu off the hook for now, until she got the whole story from Ranma. Unlike Akane, she didn't like having family squabbles in front of strangers.
She walked over to Shiori and glance down at the little girl she still held.
Shiori giggled nervously.
"So, is she yours?" Shiori asked, throwing a glance toward Ranma.
Yuka and Kurumi shot a glare at Ranma at the same moment Nabiki turned to give him one of her own.
"Wha-" Ranma stuttered. He gained that same fish-out-of-water look he always got when confronted by something he didn't know how to handle.
Nabiki's eyes narrowed.
"Are you her father?"
Ranma withstood the combined glare for a moment, before he closed his eyes. A soft yet mirthless chuckle escaped his lips before he responded.
"That would have solved all my problems wouldn't it?" Ranma answered cryptically.
"Ranma?" Dr. Tofu spoke into the awkward silence that ensued.
Ranma held up a hand, then walked over to the window. That was when Nabiki noticed it had started to rain.
"Well, Shiori, are you going to do what you came to do?" Ranma asked, as he gazed out the window.
"Huh?" she responded as everyone in the room, save Ranma looked toward her.
"Go ahead, kill her."
"WHAT!" everyone shouted.
"What are you talking about?!" the priestess yelled as she tried to get over to Shiori.
Yuka looked like she couldn't believe that Ranma had just said that, for her part, Nabiki couldn't believe it either. Shiori looked like she had been slapped. Little Himiko began to cry and fussing about in Shiori's arms. Nabiki didn't see Tofu's response.
"Well, isn't that what you tried to do just a bit ago?" Ranma continued evenly.
"No," came Shiori's timid reply as everyone else just stood there gaping.
Shiori looked like she was about to breakdown before Dr. Tofu finally reached over to relieve her of the now fussing girl.
"What's this all about?" Dr. Tofu asked as he tried to calm Himiko.
"So what Yuka said earlier was wrong? You just like standing on bridges during storms?" Ranma accused. His back still turned toward the room.
Nabiki turned to watch Shiori.
"You don't understand," Shiori pleaded. She looked pale as both her hands reflexively covered her belly.
"Don't understand what?" Ranma taunted.
"Now is not the time, Ranma," Yuka jumped in and pleaded.
Ranma ignored her and pressed on. "Her mother abandoned her," Ranma spat with a wave toward the girl in Tofu's arms.
"You have no right to talk about that!" the priestess countered.
Ranma turned to glare at Kurumi.
"She jus' tried to jump off a bridge," he stated flatly. He turned his intent gaze back to Shiori as he finished, "takin' her child with her."
Nabiki jerked. From all around her she heard several gasps.
"You don't understand," Shiori repeated, tears in her eyes this time.
"Tell me!" Ranma demanded. "What's so hard, you haveta kill yourself and your kid."
"My family! My Friends! When they find out..." she trailed off.
Ranma snorted, then turned back to face the window. Slowly he reached up and released the latch.
"I'm engaged to a chick that hates my guts," Ranma began softly. "My old man only thinks of me as his free meal ticket. My own mother," Ranma's voice broke, forcing him to take a deep breath. "An I'll have ta commit seppuku," Ranma stated as he slid the window open. A blast of cold wet air swirled around the room for a moment. "Once my mother finds I can't a real man," Ranma-chan finished in a sad soprano.
= = = = = = = = = =
Four girls set out from the temple. Even though it had stopped rainning shortly before they decided to leave, between the puddles and water-ladden overhangs, Ranma had decided not to bother changing back until they reached home.
Currently, they were all headed to the Tendou home. Yuka wanted to talk to Akane. Shiori was still shaken and didn't want to return home. Yuka insisted she stay the night with her.
For her part, Nabiki was relieved to have the company. Not that she gave any indication of that. On her way to the see Dr. Tofu, she had thought she was being followed.
Putting unpleasent thoughts from her mind, she tried to sort out what had just happened.
Everyone had talked to Shiori after Ranma's little rant, but Nabiki hadn't really paid much attention after that. Her attention had solely been directed at Ranma.
He, or rather, she hadn't said anything more afterwards. All she did was just stand watching Shiori. For once, Nabiki couldn't even guess at what was running through the part-time girl's mind.
At first, she had wondered if there might be something between Shiori and Ranma. She dismissed that thought as almost as preposterous as the thought that Himiko was Ranma's child. She shook her head reufully that she had even considered that. Ranma would have had to get with some girl right when he first arrived. She knew for a fact he didn't have that in him.
Ahead of her, Ranma-chan uttered a harsh curse under her breath and slipped into a defensive stance.
This chapter feels even rougher than the last chapter, and for that I apologize. But I am trying to get these out without too much delay.
While Ranma is very OOC in this chapter, please bare with me. I certainly hope that within the next few chapters I can significantly justify most of this. I did not mean for Ranma to sound as cruel as I think he comes across here, but part of this is the strength of his feelings on the matter and his social ineptitude.
I'm not really good with Author Notes, but I would like to thank everyone who has written in with their encouragement and also those who enjoy my tales enough to take the time to read them.
Thank you.