Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: ashez2ashes 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mystery / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2001 | Updated On: 11.07.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 483 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mystery / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2001 | Updated On: 11.07.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 483 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. But you already knew that,
didn't you?
Contact info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 2
----
He didn't even look like Ryouga with all those needles and
machines hooked up to him.
Ukyou slowly inched toward his medical bed and stood on her
tiptoes to look at him from across the room. She didn't dare stray
too close for fear that she might pull something out of place. Who
knows what all of those machines did? She could accidentally pull
something out and blood might go splurting all over the place.
She inched closer and hesitantly poked a machine that was
rhythmically keeping track of his heart beat. The "Beep, Beep" cut
through the dead silence of the hospital room. Despite her fears,
the machine didn't explode, nor did blood start splurting out like
a bad slasher flick.
She took another step closer.
He looked so frail...
Ukyou tiptoed to the foot of the bed, holding her hands behind her
back. Carefully, she leaned forward and read the medical form
attached to the front of the bed. All the personal information was
blank save for the name: Ryouga Hibiki.
She never really bothered to get to know him... had she? They
couldn't even put his home phone number and address on the forms.
Ranma had only remembered the general area Ryouga's house was, let
alone any exact information. Would his parents be worried about
him if they knew?
Ukyou knew nothing about him. She just used him and threw him
away. He had only been a tool for getting her "Ranchan".
Her Ranchan... he had never been hers. Ranma had been Akane's all
this time. Akane had gotten some kind of head start, and stolen
his heart before Ukyou had even set foot in Nerima. She had been
a fool... a stupid love sick fool.
She cringed. Ryouga was lying broken in a hospital bed and she was
whining about her lost love.
That stupid idiot! Why did he save her? They weren't friends...
not really. Partners in crime sometimes perhaps, but not friends.
Yet... he saved her life.
Ukyou stared at the lost boy's still form in the bed, trying to
take in all the details. She felt like it was a sort of
punishment for getting him there. He saved her, it was her fault.
She should feel guilty, shouldn't she?
Ryouga had a long tube running up his nose and various other
equipment connected to his body. Under his left eye, a slender
scar ran down his cheek. It was stitched up but would never
completely heal. He would have a scar for the rest of his life.
But it wasn't that bad really. It was the only scar that would be
visible from the outside.
Ukyou vowed that she would tell him it made him look like one of
those guys from action manga comics. It was like a battle scar!
Of course, it made him look like the BAD GUY of those stories, but
there was no reason she had to elaborate.
A vow wasn't a bad idea... Ukyou clenched her fists and made a
silent promise. She was going to repay him. She wasn't sure how,
or if she could ever fully repay him, but she was going to try. It
wasn't clear to her what she could do, save be his friend, and
give him discounted okonomiyaki for the rest of his life. He
seemed like he needed a friend and who could turn down free food?
She walked over to his bed and touched his hand.
It felt clammy and almost cold. Her head tilted spilling her
chestnut hair across her face and shoulders.
"Jackass, you didn't have to do that." She whispered closed her
eyes tightly and watched the patterns behind her eyelids.
If he woke up...no WHEN he woke up she was going to repay him.
Somehow, someway. She let go of his hand and took a step back...
and tripped over a power cord.
The beeping heart monitor crashed to the ground violently. The
sound echoed through the quiet halls of the hospital. The steady
beeping of the monitor stopped to be replaced by a very dead
'BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'. Ukyou looked down at her handiwork and had a
mini heart attack.
"Oh my god I broke him!" She looked around desperately. "Whatta
I do?! Whatta I do?! Nurse! Somebody! Help! I broke him! I--" She
stopped.
Ryouga was looking up at her through blurry, bloodshot green eyes.
He blinked rapidly in confusion.
"Where the hell am I now?"
"Ryouga! You're awake! I didn't break you! Everybody! He's awake!"
Ukyou glomped onto the still vertigo gripped Ryouga. For once, his
confusion worked for him helping him not notice the cute girl
glomped onto him, and preventing himself from losing much needed
blood.
Ranma and Akane appeared outside the door. The two looked worse
for wear. And was that lipstick on Ranma's face? No, it was better
not to think about things like that right now. Ukyou disengaged
herself from Ryouga.
"See, Akane what did I tell you?"
"Yes, Ranma, he woke up just because of YOU."
Ryouga blinked again. His eyes were still trying to adjust. His
throat was really dry and raw too.
A doctor rushed into the room. His long white coat swished as he
walked. His dark eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the
patient was awake. Damn, he'd lost another bet.
"What are you people doing here? You're going to have to leave."
The doctor ushered a crestfallen Ranma and Akane out of the room.
"Aww man, I wanted to ask him what getting hit by a semi felt
like." Ranma grumbled. Akane punched him in the ribs as they two
walked out of the room.
"Ow Akane, I was just kidding."
The doctor walked up to Ukyou and put a hand on her arm. "You're
going to have to leave too, Miss." He glanced at the broken
monitor. "What happened?"
"Oh, yes well uh Ryouga knocked it down when he woke up! He's
pretty strong you know." She laughed nervously. "I better leave,
too." She started to dash out of the room.
"Ukyou...wait." Ryouga coughed and lifted up a hand weakly. She
turned and met his gaze from across the room. "It wasn't your
fault."
Ukyou's eye's widened in shock as she was escorted out of the
room.
H-how did he know about that?
----
Ryouga could never remember spending this much time in one place
his entire life. Not that he could go anywhere. With his broken
leg, broken arm, concussion, and cracked ribs he wasn't going
anywhere soon. The ribs hurt the worse. He could live with the
rest if his ribs didn't twinge painfully every time he took a
breath.
Truth be told, he had been hurt before. Never this severely, but
he wasn't a stranger to hospital rooms. The dull medical smell and
endless yellow linoleum were driving him insane. It was so tedious
just sitting in one place. The food sucked. The television
sucked. He could practically feel his muscles turning to mush. It
would take months just to regain everything that he had lost.
He looked over his room. It wasn't very much, just the bare
essentials. There were a few balloons and flowers, mostly from
Ukyou and Akane. Ranma had bought him a pair of pajamas. Ryouga
was touched by his sentiment until he saw what was on them...
PIGS. He didn't know how Ranma had found yellow pajamas with
little black pigs on them, but he had. Never before had he hated
an article of clothing so much.
He had to get out of bed soon or he'd go crazy!
Ryouga had no idea where his parents were. He hadn't been able to
contact them. They must have lost their cell phones again. It
didn't really matter much to him. They never would have found him
if they even bothered to try. Besides, the parent he really wanted
to talk to was unavailable. Luckily, Ryouga had remembered the
Hibiki Emergency Bank Fund which was more than enough to cover his
medical bills.
Other than the balloons and flowers there were also cards from the
others from Nerima. Reaching over, he picked one out of the pile
and read it.
[Shampoo: "Thanks" for saving stupid spatula girl! Competition
almost eliminated! Shampoo come see you after you get all better!]
Ryouga frowned and set down Shampoo's card. She sure knew how to
cheer a guy up. Who knew they made cards with crossbones? He
picked up Cologne's next.
[Cologne: I knew you'd pull through. You BETTER recover. No who
has been trained in the baksai tenkestu can be taken down by some
mere automobile! 5 thousand years of Amazon history are riding on
you boy!]
What's the old ghoul going to do? Beat me up in the afterlife?
He discarded the card and picked up another one. It was written in
very formal script with a blue lightning bolt imprinted on the
front. It looked more like a challenge letter than a card.
[Kuno: AH HA HA! Heaven has wreaked its vengeance upon you, evil
sorcerer friend of Saotome! Feel every breath of your anguish as
penance for your harassing of the pigtailed girl!]
His uninjured hand clenched tightly. He knew how he was going to
get back in shape now.
[Nabiki: I hope you get better, even though it is nice not having
you and Ranma destroying the dojo.]
That one wasn't that bad. Ryouga reached over to set the card down
when a slip of paper fell out.
"What's this? ... A BILL FOR THE CARD?!" He crumpled the bill up
and threw it in a trashcan. There was no way he was going to pay
for his own get well card!
He set the last of the cards down and picked up a box. A delivery
man had just brought it a few hours previous. It had no name on
it, but the return address was "Tendo Dojo". His eyes widened in
surprise.
Akane must have gotten him something!
He hurriedly tore open the wrapping and peered inside--
"PRETTY NURSE LADIES!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Happosai jumped out of the box and ran out the door. Screams could
be heard from outside as Ryouga stared blankly in shock. After
several minutes, he regained motor capacities and lay back in his
bed. The sounds of women screaming and arming themselves with
deadly mops could be heard outside his door, nothing that unusual;
same old same old.
There had to be some way to get out of his room. Even just a
little walk down the hallway would be better than nothing.
There was a loud boom as if a bomb went off outside. Nurses
roaring in very un-nurse like ways echoed through the hallways.
"The drudgery is killing me!" He felt so weak; rotting here in
this hospital bed. He knew Ranma was laughing at him. Who knew how
he had been treating Akane while he was away!
He looked down at his pig pajamas in disgust. He wouldn't normally
have accepted them, but the hospital gowns with the opening in the
back were too embarrassing. Besides, his other cloths were
completely ruined. Ryouga dreaded having to get new cloths. It
always took him days to find a clothing store.
The time had only been made bearable by Akane and Ukyou's visits.
Ukyou was being so nice... it was weird. She didn't even seem like
the same person, like she was possessed by aliens. But alien Ukyou
was a lot nicer than normal Ukyou, so he wasn't complaining.
Ryouga sighed. It would be nice to have a friend... But who was he
kidding? She just pitied him; probably felt like she owed him or
something.
He scanned the room again; looking for some way of escape. His
gaze rested on a walker his older roommate used. He was gone and
wouldn't be back for a few hours. It'd be hard, but it could work.
He pulled one of the balloons toward him and cut the ribbon off
with his teeth. Experimentally, he twirled it and snapped it taunt
like a gymnastics ribbon. Ryouga grinned like an idiot.
"Hah! Ranma's not the only one who knows how to improvise!"
He snapped the ribbon toward the walker. It wrapped around the
metal base easily. With a flick of his wrist, Ryouga pulled it
toward him. He then gently took the IV out of his arm. Pain
killers... who needs them? That stupid thing had been stuck in his
arm for hours. It had to have done its work by now.
He swung one leg over the bed and then the other. Ignoring the
twanging in his ribs, he gripped the metal sides of the walker and
hauled himself up with one hand. Every muscle, tendon, and bone
protested at this injustice, but Ryouga shrugged it off.
It was slow going at first, one leg in front of the other, stop,
breath, and start again. Every step was agony. Every breath was
filled with pain. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached
the doorway and promptly--
tripped on a power cord.
"Gaaaaaah!" Ryouga crumpled to the floor in a heap. His mind
erupted into a roaring avalanche of pain. Every fiber of his body
made itself known. Tears threatened to spill over his cheeks, but
he held them back with sheer will power. He was strong. He wasn't
going to cry. Besides, what would Ranma think if he saw him now?
He up righted the walker and brought himself to his feet. Walking
slowly and carefully, he exited the room.
Ryouga, the lost boy, the guy that can't even make it to his own
house, decided to take a short walk...
----
Ukyou, Ranma, and Akane walked through the large double doors of
the hospital complex. The girls each held a gift basket in their
arms. The baskets were almost identical except for the boxed
okonomiyaki in Ukyou's.
"Does the hospital seem a little... messy to you?" Akane glanced
over her shoulder. She was pretty sure file cabinets weren't
usually used as barricades.
Ranma shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe Ryouga went for a little walk
and starting punching holes in things to get back to his room."
"That's not funny Ranma." Akane grimaced as the image of the
hospital reduced to ruins flashed across her mind.
The trio weaved through various doctors, visitors, and patients on
their way to the third floor. Normally they would have just jumped
there, but the sight of three teenagers jumping stories had
disturbed a few of the heart patients, so they had been told to
use the elevator like normal people. Eventually the teenagers
reached the elevator and stepped into it. Ranma pushed the button
for the third floor.
"I still don't see why we have to take the long way." Ranma rolled
back and forth on his heels impatiently.
"Someone had a heart attack when they saw us." Ukyou swung her
basket, absently. Ranma tried to meet her eyes, but she seemed
intent on staring at the lights on the elevator panel. Sighing, he
shrugged his shoulders.
"Is that all?"
Akane stepped on his foot. "Have some compassion you dummy."
"What? I'm compassionate. It's one of my many skills."
Akane stuck her tongue out at him. "Surrrre."
"Really, Martial Arts Compassion. Help old ladies across the
street attack and everything."
"If you have to attack the old ladies to help them across the
street, it's not considered compassion."
"Oh yeah..."
Several seconds passed in silence while Ukyou considered trying to
claw her way out of the elevator. They were LOOKING at each other
again. Finally, the elevator dinged and the door opened. Ukyou
sheathed her weapon, turned, and pushed past the couple without a
word. Ranma and Akane looked confused for a moment and then
followed her.
It was a short walk to Ryouga's room. Ukyou knocked loudly to make
sure he wasn't indecent. Who knows what would happen if they
accidentally walked in on him. He would probably lose a gallon of
blood and go into shock.
"Hey Ryouga are you naked in there?" No response was heard from
the room. Ukyou looked back at her two companions questionably.
"So what do we do?"
Ranma responded by walking past Ukyou and going into the room.
"Hey pork butt ya in here?" Ranma looked around the empty room and
gulped. No Ryouga. No cute little black pig trying to rip his face
off. This was not good. "Um guys... he's... gone."
"What?!" Akane and Ukyou called as they came running into the
room. Both beds in the room were empty, a pile of cards lay on the
table, and an IV machine lay on its side. It was almost like some
great struggle was fought in the room.
"THAT JACKASS! What the hell was he thinking?! He's hurt. He could
be in Russia by now! That idiot has no common sense! I'm surprised
he has enough sense to even get out of the rain!" Ukyou nearly
crushed her basket in her hand.
"I don't know about that..." Ranma's eyebrow twitched.
"Ranma what are we going to do?" Akane walked up to him and put a
hand on his shoulder. Ukyou tried to ignore the gesture.
"I'm not sure there is anything we can do Akane when--
"THAT IDIOT! DAMN IT! I'M ATTACHING A LITTLE COLLAR WITH A BELL ON
THAT GUY!"
"Uh... what's wrong with Ukyou?" Ryouga stood by the doorway,
leaning on a walker and munching on a candy bar. Three sets of
eyes swiveled his direction and blinked.
"Ryouga! Wow! You made it back! I guess even you get lucky
sometimes." Ranma laughed.
"What do you..." Ryouga stopped mid sentence and turned pale as he
realized what he had just done. He could have ended up on the
other side of the country in pig pajamas and a walker.
Ah hell, how could he have been so stupid! He had to think of
something witty to diffuse the situation.
"Uh... oops?"
"OOPS?!"
Ryouga gulped and stepped back as Ukyou and Akane began to emit
unholy auras.
What followed next constituted a new law in the hospital banning
all large spatulas and mallets on hospital grounds.
----
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
didn't you?
Contact info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 2
----
He didn't even look like Ryouga with all those needles and
machines hooked up to him.
Ukyou slowly inched toward his medical bed and stood on her
tiptoes to look at him from across the room. She didn't dare stray
too close for fear that she might pull something out of place. Who
knows what all of those machines did? She could accidentally pull
something out and blood might go splurting all over the place.
She inched closer and hesitantly poked a machine that was
rhythmically keeping track of his heart beat. The "Beep, Beep" cut
through the dead silence of the hospital room. Despite her fears,
the machine didn't explode, nor did blood start splurting out like
a bad slasher flick.
She took another step closer.
He looked so frail...
Ukyou tiptoed to the foot of the bed, holding her hands behind her
back. Carefully, she leaned forward and read the medical form
attached to the front of the bed. All the personal information was
blank save for the name: Ryouga Hibiki.
She never really bothered to get to know him... had she? They
couldn't even put his home phone number and address on the forms.
Ranma had only remembered the general area Ryouga's house was, let
alone any exact information. Would his parents be worried about
him if they knew?
Ukyou knew nothing about him. She just used him and threw him
away. He had only been a tool for getting her "Ranchan".
Her Ranchan... he had never been hers. Ranma had been Akane's all
this time. Akane had gotten some kind of head start, and stolen
his heart before Ukyou had even set foot in Nerima. She had been
a fool... a stupid love sick fool.
She cringed. Ryouga was lying broken in a hospital bed and she was
whining about her lost love.
That stupid idiot! Why did he save her? They weren't friends...
not really. Partners in crime sometimes perhaps, but not friends.
Yet... he saved her life.
Ukyou stared at the lost boy's still form in the bed, trying to
take in all the details. She felt like it was a sort of
punishment for getting him there. He saved her, it was her fault.
She should feel guilty, shouldn't she?
Ryouga had a long tube running up his nose and various other
equipment connected to his body. Under his left eye, a slender
scar ran down his cheek. It was stitched up but would never
completely heal. He would have a scar for the rest of his life.
But it wasn't that bad really. It was the only scar that would be
visible from the outside.
Ukyou vowed that she would tell him it made him look like one of
those guys from action manga comics. It was like a battle scar!
Of course, it made him look like the BAD GUY of those stories, but
there was no reason she had to elaborate.
A vow wasn't a bad idea... Ukyou clenched her fists and made a
silent promise. She was going to repay him. She wasn't sure how,
or if she could ever fully repay him, but she was going to try. It
wasn't clear to her what she could do, save be his friend, and
give him discounted okonomiyaki for the rest of his life. He
seemed like he needed a friend and who could turn down free food?
She walked over to his bed and touched his hand.
It felt clammy and almost cold. Her head tilted spilling her
chestnut hair across her face and shoulders.
"Jackass, you didn't have to do that." She whispered closed her
eyes tightly and watched the patterns behind her eyelids.
If he woke up...no WHEN he woke up she was going to repay him.
Somehow, someway. She let go of his hand and took a step back...
and tripped over a power cord.
The beeping heart monitor crashed to the ground violently. The
sound echoed through the quiet halls of the hospital. The steady
beeping of the monitor stopped to be replaced by a very dead
'BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'. Ukyou looked down at her handiwork and had a
mini heart attack.
"Oh my god I broke him!" She looked around desperately. "Whatta
I do?! Whatta I do?! Nurse! Somebody! Help! I broke him! I--" She
stopped.
Ryouga was looking up at her through blurry, bloodshot green eyes.
He blinked rapidly in confusion.
"Where the hell am I now?"
"Ryouga! You're awake! I didn't break you! Everybody! He's awake!"
Ukyou glomped onto the still vertigo gripped Ryouga. For once, his
confusion worked for him helping him not notice the cute girl
glomped onto him, and preventing himself from losing much needed
blood.
Ranma and Akane appeared outside the door. The two looked worse
for wear. And was that lipstick on Ranma's face? No, it was better
not to think about things like that right now. Ukyou disengaged
herself from Ryouga.
"See, Akane what did I tell you?"
"Yes, Ranma, he woke up just because of YOU."
Ryouga blinked again. His eyes were still trying to adjust. His
throat was really dry and raw too.
A doctor rushed into the room. His long white coat swished as he
walked. His dark eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the
patient was awake. Damn, he'd lost another bet.
"What are you people doing here? You're going to have to leave."
The doctor ushered a crestfallen Ranma and Akane out of the room.
"Aww man, I wanted to ask him what getting hit by a semi felt
like." Ranma grumbled. Akane punched him in the ribs as they two
walked out of the room.
"Ow Akane, I was just kidding."
The doctor walked up to Ukyou and put a hand on her arm. "You're
going to have to leave too, Miss." He glanced at the broken
monitor. "What happened?"
"Oh, yes well uh Ryouga knocked it down when he woke up! He's
pretty strong you know." She laughed nervously. "I better leave,
too." She started to dash out of the room.
"Ukyou...wait." Ryouga coughed and lifted up a hand weakly. She
turned and met his gaze from across the room. "It wasn't your
fault."
Ukyou's eye's widened in shock as she was escorted out of the
room.
H-how did he know about that?
----
Ryouga could never remember spending this much time in one place
his entire life. Not that he could go anywhere. With his broken
leg, broken arm, concussion, and cracked ribs he wasn't going
anywhere soon. The ribs hurt the worse. He could live with the
rest if his ribs didn't twinge painfully every time he took a
breath.
Truth be told, he had been hurt before. Never this severely, but
he wasn't a stranger to hospital rooms. The dull medical smell and
endless yellow linoleum were driving him insane. It was so tedious
just sitting in one place. The food sucked. The television
sucked. He could practically feel his muscles turning to mush. It
would take months just to regain everything that he had lost.
He looked over his room. It wasn't very much, just the bare
essentials. There were a few balloons and flowers, mostly from
Ukyou and Akane. Ranma had bought him a pair of pajamas. Ryouga
was touched by his sentiment until he saw what was on them...
PIGS. He didn't know how Ranma had found yellow pajamas with
little black pigs on them, but he had. Never before had he hated
an article of clothing so much.
He had to get out of bed soon or he'd go crazy!
Ryouga had no idea where his parents were. He hadn't been able to
contact them. They must have lost their cell phones again. It
didn't really matter much to him. They never would have found him
if they even bothered to try. Besides, the parent he really wanted
to talk to was unavailable. Luckily, Ryouga had remembered the
Hibiki Emergency Bank Fund which was more than enough to cover his
medical bills.
Other than the balloons and flowers there were also cards from the
others from Nerima. Reaching over, he picked one out of the pile
and read it.
[Shampoo: "Thanks" for saving stupid spatula girl! Competition
almost eliminated! Shampoo come see you after you get all better!]
Ryouga frowned and set down Shampoo's card. She sure knew how to
cheer a guy up. Who knew they made cards with crossbones? He
picked up Cologne's next.
[Cologne: I knew you'd pull through. You BETTER recover. No who
has been trained in the baksai tenkestu can be taken down by some
mere automobile! 5 thousand years of Amazon history are riding on
you boy!]
What's the old ghoul going to do? Beat me up in the afterlife?
He discarded the card and picked up another one. It was written in
very formal script with a blue lightning bolt imprinted on the
front. It looked more like a challenge letter than a card.
[Kuno: AH HA HA! Heaven has wreaked its vengeance upon you, evil
sorcerer friend of Saotome! Feel every breath of your anguish as
penance for your harassing of the pigtailed girl!]
His uninjured hand clenched tightly. He knew how he was going to
get back in shape now.
[Nabiki: I hope you get better, even though it is nice not having
you and Ranma destroying the dojo.]
That one wasn't that bad. Ryouga reached over to set the card down
when a slip of paper fell out.
"What's this? ... A BILL FOR THE CARD?!" He crumpled the bill up
and threw it in a trashcan. There was no way he was going to pay
for his own get well card!
He set the last of the cards down and picked up a box. A delivery
man had just brought it a few hours previous. It had no name on
it, but the return address was "Tendo Dojo". His eyes widened in
surprise.
Akane must have gotten him something!
He hurriedly tore open the wrapping and peered inside--
"PRETTY NURSE LADIES!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Happosai jumped out of the box and ran out the door. Screams could
be heard from outside as Ryouga stared blankly in shock. After
several minutes, he regained motor capacities and lay back in his
bed. The sounds of women screaming and arming themselves with
deadly mops could be heard outside his door, nothing that unusual;
same old same old.
There had to be some way to get out of his room. Even just a
little walk down the hallway would be better than nothing.
There was a loud boom as if a bomb went off outside. Nurses
roaring in very un-nurse like ways echoed through the hallways.
"The drudgery is killing me!" He felt so weak; rotting here in
this hospital bed. He knew Ranma was laughing at him. Who knew how
he had been treating Akane while he was away!
He looked down at his pig pajamas in disgust. He wouldn't normally
have accepted them, but the hospital gowns with the opening in the
back were too embarrassing. Besides, his other cloths were
completely ruined. Ryouga dreaded having to get new cloths. It
always took him days to find a clothing store.
The time had only been made bearable by Akane and Ukyou's visits.
Ukyou was being so nice... it was weird. She didn't even seem like
the same person, like she was possessed by aliens. But alien Ukyou
was a lot nicer than normal Ukyou, so he wasn't complaining.
Ryouga sighed. It would be nice to have a friend... But who was he
kidding? She just pitied him; probably felt like she owed him or
something.
He scanned the room again; looking for some way of escape. His
gaze rested on a walker his older roommate used. He was gone and
wouldn't be back for a few hours. It'd be hard, but it could work.
He pulled one of the balloons toward him and cut the ribbon off
with his teeth. Experimentally, he twirled it and snapped it taunt
like a gymnastics ribbon. Ryouga grinned like an idiot.
"Hah! Ranma's not the only one who knows how to improvise!"
He snapped the ribbon toward the walker. It wrapped around the
metal base easily. With a flick of his wrist, Ryouga pulled it
toward him. He then gently took the IV out of his arm. Pain
killers... who needs them? That stupid thing had been stuck in his
arm for hours. It had to have done its work by now.
He swung one leg over the bed and then the other. Ignoring the
twanging in his ribs, he gripped the metal sides of the walker and
hauled himself up with one hand. Every muscle, tendon, and bone
protested at this injustice, but Ryouga shrugged it off.
It was slow going at first, one leg in front of the other, stop,
breath, and start again. Every step was agony. Every breath was
filled with pain. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached
the doorway and promptly--
tripped on a power cord.
"Gaaaaaah!" Ryouga crumpled to the floor in a heap. His mind
erupted into a roaring avalanche of pain. Every fiber of his body
made itself known. Tears threatened to spill over his cheeks, but
he held them back with sheer will power. He was strong. He wasn't
going to cry. Besides, what would Ranma think if he saw him now?
He up righted the walker and brought himself to his feet. Walking
slowly and carefully, he exited the room.
Ryouga, the lost boy, the guy that can't even make it to his own
house, decided to take a short walk...
----
Ukyou, Ranma, and Akane walked through the large double doors of
the hospital complex. The girls each held a gift basket in their
arms. The baskets were almost identical except for the boxed
okonomiyaki in Ukyou's.
"Does the hospital seem a little... messy to you?" Akane glanced
over her shoulder. She was pretty sure file cabinets weren't
usually used as barricades.
Ranma shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe Ryouga went for a little walk
and starting punching holes in things to get back to his room."
"That's not funny Ranma." Akane grimaced as the image of the
hospital reduced to ruins flashed across her mind.
The trio weaved through various doctors, visitors, and patients on
their way to the third floor. Normally they would have just jumped
there, but the sight of three teenagers jumping stories had
disturbed a few of the heart patients, so they had been told to
use the elevator like normal people. Eventually the teenagers
reached the elevator and stepped into it. Ranma pushed the button
for the third floor.
"I still don't see why we have to take the long way." Ranma rolled
back and forth on his heels impatiently.
"Someone had a heart attack when they saw us." Ukyou swung her
basket, absently. Ranma tried to meet her eyes, but she seemed
intent on staring at the lights on the elevator panel. Sighing, he
shrugged his shoulders.
"Is that all?"
Akane stepped on his foot. "Have some compassion you dummy."
"What? I'm compassionate. It's one of my many skills."
Akane stuck her tongue out at him. "Surrrre."
"Really, Martial Arts Compassion. Help old ladies across the
street attack and everything."
"If you have to attack the old ladies to help them across the
street, it's not considered compassion."
"Oh yeah..."
Several seconds passed in silence while Ukyou considered trying to
claw her way out of the elevator. They were LOOKING at each other
again. Finally, the elevator dinged and the door opened. Ukyou
sheathed her weapon, turned, and pushed past the couple without a
word. Ranma and Akane looked confused for a moment and then
followed her.
It was a short walk to Ryouga's room. Ukyou knocked loudly to make
sure he wasn't indecent. Who knows what would happen if they
accidentally walked in on him. He would probably lose a gallon of
blood and go into shock.
"Hey Ryouga are you naked in there?" No response was heard from
the room. Ukyou looked back at her two companions questionably.
"So what do we do?"
Ranma responded by walking past Ukyou and going into the room.
"Hey pork butt ya in here?" Ranma looked around the empty room and
gulped. No Ryouga. No cute little black pig trying to rip his face
off. This was not good. "Um guys... he's... gone."
"What?!" Akane and Ukyou called as they came running into the
room. Both beds in the room were empty, a pile of cards lay on the
table, and an IV machine lay on its side. It was almost like some
great struggle was fought in the room.
"THAT JACKASS! What the hell was he thinking?! He's hurt. He could
be in Russia by now! That idiot has no common sense! I'm surprised
he has enough sense to even get out of the rain!" Ukyou nearly
crushed her basket in her hand.
"I don't know about that..." Ranma's eyebrow twitched.
"Ranma what are we going to do?" Akane walked up to him and put a
hand on his shoulder. Ukyou tried to ignore the gesture.
"I'm not sure there is anything we can do Akane when--
"THAT IDIOT! DAMN IT! I'M ATTACHING A LITTLE COLLAR WITH A BELL ON
THAT GUY!"
"Uh... what's wrong with Ukyou?" Ryouga stood by the doorway,
leaning on a walker and munching on a candy bar. Three sets of
eyes swiveled his direction and blinked.
"Ryouga! Wow! You made it back! I guess even you get lucky
sometimes." Ranma laughed.
"What do you..." Ryouga stopped mid sentence and turned pale as he
realized what he had just done. He could have ended up on the
other side of the country in pig pajamas and a walker.
Ah hell, how could he have been so stupid! He had to think of
something witty to diffuse the situation.
"Uh... oops?"
"OOPS?!"
Ryouga gulped and stepped back as Ukyou and Akane began to emit
unholy auras.
What followed next constituted a new law in the hospital banning
all large spatulas and mallets on hospital grounds.
----
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