Gasaraki Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Project Mile Two ❯ Hello Ukyo and farewell Genma ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 4


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Ranma lay in his hospital bed, slowly digesting the news of his condition.

'So, I'm missing a lung and a kidney. I'm gonna be stuck in the hospital for a while. What am I gonna do? I'm no longer the best.' Ranma started to get depressed. 'It's all for nothing. No way I can -' Ranma's thought was cut off suddenly by a vision.

He saw a man willing to sacrifice his own son .

A son willing to kill his own father for power.

A glass case with the body of a boy in it.

A word - Kai.


A nurse was alerted to his room by the sounds of his heart moniter. She came rushing in, saw the numbers on the equipment and screamed for a doctor.

"What? That can't be right. The human heart shouldn't reach 240 bpm.

"It can't take that kind of pace. He'll flatline soon."

"What do we do, doctor?"

"I-I don't know it's never happened before. Shit, it's rising."

The doctor and nurse rushed around preparing the crash cart, unaware that the emergency was ending as Ranma came out of his trance.

"Doc? What's going on?" Ranma managed weakly.

"Ranma? You're ok?"

"My head's a little fuzzy and my chest hurts,it feels like it's on fire. But I've had worse," he added in his usual macho tone.

"Well, we had a little scare there. Your heart rate rocketed." The doctor was more than a little concerned. "I'm not suprised your chest feels like it's on fire. I have no idea what could cause that, so I'm ordering a full set of blood tests. Nurse, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, doctor."

After the nurse had left to drop the sample off at the lab, the doctor closed the door. "Now, Ranma, what caused that little episode?"

"I dunno, doc. I was thinking about what you told me about my future, when I had this vision. I saw some odd things. Hey, does the word 'kai' mean anything to you?"

"Not a lot, other than shellfish, but I doubt that's what you meant. I'm going to have to ask you not to stress your heart like that, it's dangerous. It was scary, and I was a spectator."

"Sorry about that." Ranma was apologetic. 'Crap, I can't even be in the hospital without causing people trouble.'

"Don't worry too much Ranma, or it'll happen more often. Now get some rest."


**************


On Monday morning, Nabiki was walking to school with Akane.

"So Akane, are you going to see Ranma after school?"

"I suppose so," Akane's response was half-hearted at best.

"What? If you keep this up, you'll lose him for good."

"Lose who?" Ukyo asked walking up to the sisters.

Nabiki fought the reflex action of demanding money. "I'll tell you, but it stays between us, understand?"

Ukyo nodded and reached for her wallet but Nabiki stopped her. "This is important - it's about Ranma."

This started to sound the alarm bells in the heads of those listening.

"First of all, the good news: Shampoo no longer has a claim on Ranma."

Ukyo brightened at this news. 'That damn Amazon bimbo is out of the way. That's one less obstacle between me and Ranchan.'

"There's some bad news as well, Ukyo." Nabiki moved in to whisper to her."Remember to keep this quite."

Ukyo stiffened. "W-why? What's up?"

"Ranma's in the hospital." Akane blurted out, irritated that Ranma was taking the attention despite his absence.

Soon it was spreading like wildfire and changing with every re-telling. First Shampoo had dumped Ranma and ran of back to China with Mousse. The more astute members of the student body remembered Nabiki's behaviour at the school gates. Ranma was in hospital for trying something with Nabiki, or so the girls thought.

The boys were under the impression that Akane had dumped Ranma and Nabiki caught him on the rebound.

By lunchtime, Nabiki decided she'd had enough. Calling a meeting with her factors and Ukyo, she decided that they needed to know what was going on.

"Ranma is going through a lot at the moment.1) He's still going through a rough patch with Akane because of that damn reversal jewel. 2) He saw his mother for the first time in ten years on Friday. But he had to hide from her. If he revealed his curse to her, he'd have to kill himself. Some rubbish about being 'a man among men.' And Akane accidentally let slip about his curse in front of his mother. 3) He's in hospital because of injuries sustained from saving Shampoo from a rapist."

This piece of information brought forth a gasp from the audience.

"4) Shampoo's claim is no more as thanks from the Amazons. 5) He might be cast out from dojo as he can't take over the school. His injuries meant that they had to take out a lung and a kidney. Oh, and Ranma dosen't know this, but Akane admitted that she thinks more highly of Ryoga then Ranma and she is blaming him for Kasumi being upset."

"That's a lot for anyone to deal with," Ukyo spoke honestly. "Plus there's all the other stuff he has to deal with, I'm suprised he's not gone nuts."

Nabiki's eyes widened at the thought of Ranma going berserk. "That's not funny Ukyo. But I think we should be careful when he comes out of hospital."

"Right, I'm gonna ditch last period to go visit him," Ukyo decided. "Hey, how come you're not charging me for this?"

Nabiki looked a hurt at this. "I'm not feeling too good about some of the things I've done to Ranma. I'm tryin to be nicer to one of Kasumi's friends. And like Ranma, she doesn't have too many of those."

"Sorry about that, Nabiki. I din't mean to sound nasty." Ukyo apologised.

"I know, but it's getting to me as well. Sod it, cover for me. I'm taking this afternoon off to visit Ranma. Ukyo, do you want to come?"

"Hell yeah. Shall we pick up Kasumi? I think she'll want to see her friend."


**************


At the hospital, Nodoka Saotome asked for directions to her son's room.

Knocking on the door, she let herself in. "Ranma! What happened to you?"

"I got injured saving Shampoo."

"Tell me the whole story. This happened a few days ago, yes?"

Ranma nodded, and took a deep breath. "It started on Saturday afternoon. Someone showed up claiming to be engaged to me....."


**************

At the reception desk Ukyo, Kasumi and Nabiki announced their intention to visit Ranma.

"And you are?"

"I'm Ukyo Kuonji, Ranma's fiancee."

"I'm Nabiki Tendo, this is my sister, Kasumi. We're Ranma's friends."

"I see. Well, he's on the fifth floor, room 534. Be aware that he might be sleeping, so keep it down, ok?"


**************

A nurse knocked on Ranma's door. "Excuse me, but Ranma's fiancee is here. Are you well enough to have visitors?"

"Akane Tendo?" Nodoka asked hopefully.

"Ukyo Kuonji. Wait a minute, you have two fiancees?"

"Yeah, pops has sold me off a few times. Sometimes for food."

Nodoka winced at Ranma's tone of acceptance at being sold off like property.

"Anyway, she's here with two other girls. Kasumi and Nabiki Tendo."

"Send them in please," Nodoka thought that if these girls are the best suited to Ranma, then she'd talk to them.

"Hello Kasumi, Nabiki."

"H-hello auntie Nodoka." Nabiki was shocked to see Ranma talking to his mother.

"Hello, Mrs Saotome. I'm Ukyo Kuonji, Ranma's fiancee."

"That's the one pops stole the dowery from." Ranma helpfully supplied.

"Oh." Nodoka bowed to Ukyo. "I apologise for the actions of my husband."

Ukyo was taken aback. "That's ok. I accept your apology." Ukyo turned to Ranma. "Ah,Ranchan, still acting without thinking?"

"Heh, you would have it any other way." Ranma turned to the Tendo sisters. "So what brings you here? Where's Akane?"

"She's still in school, Ranma. We ditched this afternoon's lessons to pay you a visit." Nabiki answered.

Nodoka noticed that Kasumi looked uncomfortable. "Is something wrong, Kasumi?"

"Erm, sort of. It's a bit awkward, it concerns Ranko."

"Oh, I know all about Ranko. How she and Ranma are one and the same. That was just a test to see if Akane and Ranma were suited to each other. I admit that I favoured the Tendo arrangement due to it being the first. But having met the girl, she seems unsuitable for my manly son."

"You mean that Ranma is 'a man among men' and won't have to kill himself?" Nabiki asked, her hunch about Nodoka knowing more than she let on was quickly being proved right.

Ukyo blanched slightly. "So that's why Ranchan was a bit out of it this week."

"You think that I'd force my only child to kill himself?"

"Well, with Ranchan, it made sense. I mean Ryoga keeps trying to kill him 'cos of a missed duel. And that was over bread," Ukyo answered truthfully. "When I first tracked him down, I wanted to kill him."

"Oh my, " Nodoka replied. "Well, I think that Genma will be glad I'm not going to go on the Rampage. But there's something else. What is it?"

Nabiki took a deep breath. "Auntie Nodoka, because of Ranma's new physical condition, his father and ours are looking to get Ryoga Hibiki to take of the dojo instead."

"Oh, great pops, just when I think you can't sink any lower, you do this to me." Ranma was beginning to wonder if any court would convict him if he killed his father.

"It seems that I need to have words with your father and Mr Tendo, son."

"So Ranchan, I hear you defended Shampoo's honour."

"Yeah, some sick bastard was looking to some nasty stuff to her - I couldn't let that happen. Despite what Akane says, I ain't no pervert. I'd never force my self on anyone."

That was all the prompting Nodoka needed to start hugging Ranma. "I knew you'd be a good man, son."

"Mom, can you and everyone keep my recovery a secret? I don't want to deal with any other people right now." Ranma started yawning, "come by tomorrow, if you like. The food here's terrible." Ranma was out like a light.

The Tendos chuckled at Ranma's last statement.

Ukyo giggled, "Ranchan's better alright."

Nodoka cleared her throat. "Now, how do you girls feel about my son? How would you treat him if he wasn't honour-bound to marry into either of your families?"

"Why?" Nabiki asked.

"Because, one way for Ranma to save any amount of face is to renounce the Saotome name. I have no problem with any of you girls dating my son, but I don't want him forced into an unhappy marriage."

Kasumi pondered that for a moment. "He might be young, but he's definately not boring. And he does see me as something other then a surrogate mother. But I'm not sure about anything more then friendship."

"I tried an engagement to him, but I screwed it up by manipulating him. But if I had a second chance, I'd take it. None of the other prospects around here come close to Ranma."

Ukyo looked slightly panicked, but was calm enough to give a coherent arguement for her case. "My life was ruined because I was abandoned. The only reason I'm still here is because there's a chance I can reclaim my honour by marrying Ranchan. And now you're telling me that all agreements could be off? What am I going to do?"

Nodoka frowned. 'Damned honour. Maybe we can adopt her into my clan?' "Were you abandoned by your own clan?"

"Yes."

"I have an idea. If there was no Ranma Saotome, how would that affect your standing?"

"I'm not sure, but since I'm now legally registered as male, I can't go back to my old life."
'What's she planning?'

"I have to talk this over with my family, but it seems that we could be adopting you. As a girl, free to marry whomever you like. But I must tell you this: Ranma sees you as his best friend. He told me he likes you, I think he might even love you, just not in the way a husband should love his wife."

"Oh." Ukyo started to look depressed.

"But that doesn't mean you can't be his mistress." Nodoka smiled. "I have no problem with my manly son having two or three mistresses."

The girls started to blush. Luckily Ranma was fast asleep, otherwise he would have risked further complictions trying to escape the embarrassment.


"I think we can sort that out later. Kasumi, Nabiki - we are going to visit your father."


**************

Nodoka was stitting at the table glaring at Soun. "So, where are my husband and Ranma?"

Soun was shaking like a leaf. "They're not here."

"I can see that. Where's Ranko?"

"I- err."

"Could it be that my son and Ranko are one and the same, MISTER Panda?" She pulled out a sharping stone from inside her kimono .

Genma was in panda form, sweating bullets.

"You've obviously done a good job in raising him, Genma. He risked life and limb to save one of his friends." Nodoka said almost absently.

Genma started to relax slightly.

"But why did you engage him so many times?" Nodoka got up and poured her hot tea over her husband. "And why to another boy?"

"But I was hungry," Genma whined. It was not the smartest thing to say.

"Genma, Genma, Genma. What am I going to do with you?" Nodoka started to hone the blade of her Katana. "I mean first you engage our son before he's even born. Then you engage him again to his best friend and countless other times. Next came Jusenkyo."

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this. I'm getting a divorce and Ranma is coming to live with me. I really don't care what you do your damned school of Anything Goes." Nodoka wasn't really sorry, but one had to keep up appearences.

Genma let out a breath in relief at having avoided the business end of Nodoka's katana.

Nodoka turned to the Tendo patriarch, "Soun, thank you for the hospitality you've extended to my son. I shall collect his things and bid you farewell. What you do with Genma is up to you." Nodoka resheathed her sword and left to retrive Ranma's belongings from the guest room.


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To be continued.