Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Couch Trips ❯ Closure ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10

Closure

It was nearly seven when the Dr. Tofu's voice came from the front of the Tendo home.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Come on in, Dr. Tofu" called Nabiki. Ranma and Akane looked up as Dr. Tofu walked in followed by Dr. Epstein. Ranma was still in girl form but was now wearing her usual Chinese outfit. Akane, in a fit of impishness, was also wearing one of Ranma's Chinese outfits. Dr. Epstein smiled broadly upon seeing them.

"Dr. Epstein." Cried Akane "What brings you here?"

"I just came along to give Ono here a little last minute support." He replied, "I hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all, Doctor," answered Akane. "It's good to see you. Right, Ranma?"

"Right," agreed Ranma. "Besides you can finally meet my Mom and Dad."

"They're here? Excellent," said Dr. Epstein. "Oh here," said the doctor handing over a gaily-colored paper bag. "Ono said that it was customary for a guest to bring a gift."

"Thanks, doc., that's very nice of you," replied Ranma. "Oh, Sake. Pops and Mr. Tendo will really appreciate this."

Dr. Tofu was fidgeting slightly and Dr. Epstein turned to him. "Relax, Ono. Everything will be fine."

"I... I hope so," stammered Dr. Tofu.

"Trust me," replied Dr. Epstein with a smile.

Jut then Soun, Genma and Nodoka walked into the living room. "And who do we have here?" asked Soun.

Akane performed the introductions. Nodoka was nervous. 'So this is the psychiatrist that Ranma and Akane have been seeing.' she thought to herself 'A psychiatrist! Oh, what must he think of us?'

Dr. Epstein sensing Nodoka 's nervousness went over to her. "Mrs. Saotome, I have been hoping to meet you. Ranma has been telling me so much about you."

Nodoka 's nervousness increased. She just nodded.

"You must be so proud of your child." Continued the doctor. "Having such a difficult life and turning out to be such a fine young... person."

Nodoka blushed then smiled gratefully. "I am," she said.

"Struggle and difficulty are necessary for any true martial artist," intoned Genma. "It is the only path to success."

Soun nodded solemnly in agreement. "True, Saotome, true."

"I see," said Dr. Epstein in a non-committal tone. Dr. Epstein then turned to Nabiki who had just come from upstairs "And you must be Nabiki," he stated with certainty. "Akane described you very well."

"So you are the reason for the change in my sister 's and Ranma 's behavior," said Nabiki with a scowl. "I guess I should be grateful. But I can't help wondering what you are getting out if all this."

"Nabiki!" admonished Akane, scandalized by her older sisters behavior. "Dr. Epstein is a guest in this house. You are being very rude."

"It's quite all right, Akane," said Dr. Epstein. "Your sister is just worried about you. Isn't that right Nabiki?"

"Why should I be worried?" questioned Nabiki sarcastically "She has Ranma to protect her doesn't she? But you didn't answer my question, Doc. What are you getting out of this? According to Ranma and Akane you aren't charging anything. I find it hard to believe you are doing this solely out of the goodness of your heart."

"Yes, you would, wouldn't you?" answered Dr. Epstein with a hint of heat in his voice. "However, you are correct. I am getting something out of this. I'm making some very interesting friends."

"Oh, please," responded Nabiki. "You expect me to believe that that is all you are getting. What about fame and wealth? I'm sure a paper on a person cursed to change from male to female and back again would make you a very famous man. You might even get the Nobel prize."

"You're probably right. Nabiki," responded Dr. Epstein reasonably. "Except for two very important things."

"And they are?" drawled Nabiki.

"One," said the doctor ticking off one finger "I'm already as famous as I wish to be. And two," ticking off a second finger, "I'm already quite wealthy."

"How wealthy?" asked Nabiki.

"Nabiki!" admonished Nodoka totally embarrassed by Nabiki 's behavior. "Please excuse her rudeness, Dr. Epstein."

"Completely unnecessary, I assure you Mrs. Saotome," laughed Dr. Epstein. "To be honest, I find her attitude very refreshing."

Dr. Tofu in the meantime was beginning to nervously pace back and forth and Dr.

Epstein went over to reassure his patient and friend. He didn't say anything and as far as anyone could tell he didn't do anything but Dr. Tofu immediately calmed down. "Just concentrate on what we talked about, Ono. You'll be fine, I promise you."

It was a good thing for at that very moment, Kasumi made her entrance. She descended the stairs, dressed in a pale yellow calf length gown. It was high necked and had long sleeves but its' close fit did nothing to hide her figure. Dr. Tofu again began to be agitated; Dr. Epstein's hand on Tofu's shoulder calmed him once again. "Remember concentrate," whispered Dr. Epstein.

Tofu swallowed nervously and nodded. He concentrated. He looked at Kasumi, really looked at her, possibly for the first time in his life. Somehow, she was even lovelier and more desirable than ever. "Kasumi," breathed Dr. Tofu, "you look wonderful."

"Thank you, Ono," replied Kasumi with a slight blush. She then noticed Dr. Epstein standing beside Dr. Tofu. "Ono, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, of course. Kasumi Tendo may I present my friend Dr. Epstein from America. Dr. Epstein, this is Kasumi."

<"Pleased to meet you,"> said Kasumi in English. Everyone face faulted. Kasumi speaks English?

<"The pleasure is all mine,"> responded Dr. Epstein. Then turning to Dr. Tofu "Well Ono, what are you waiting for. I believe you are here to take this lovely young lady out on a date. Shoo."

"Yes, yes," responded Dr. Tofu and he took Kasumi 's arm. "Shall we go Kasumi?"

And arm in arm, Kasumi and Dr. Tofu left the Tendo home. It wasn't until several minutes after they had left that Nabiki noticed something odd. She looked around. Ranma and Akane were sitting on the couch, talking to Dr. Epstein. Nodoka had gone back into the kitchen. Her father and Genma were calmly sitting at the shogi table playing a game. Everything was calm. 'That's it!' thought Nabiki. 'Daddy didn't cry.'

"Uh, Daddy?" said Nabiki. "You realize Kasumi just went on a date? Don't you?"

"Yes," answered Sound in a soft happy tone.. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yeah," answered Nabiki. "Strange," she thought. "He isn't over-reacting. That's not right." Nabiki looked over to where Ranma and Akane were sitting. They were both looking at Dr. Epstein with happy smiles. Dr. Epstein, however, was looking straight at Soun a look of heavy concentration on his face.

Dr. Epstein finally sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Ranma and Akane and said something Nabiki couldn't hear. Both nodded in response. Curious, Nabiki walked over to the couch and sat herself down sandwiching Ranma between herself and Akane.

"Okay, you three," demanded Nabiki. "I want to know what's going on and I want to know now."

"Going on?" asked Ranma innocently.

Nabiki was not fooled. "Yes, going on and don't try to lie to be Ranma, you're not very good at it," replied Nabiki with a smirk.

"Told you she was quick on the uptake," Ranma said to Dr. Epstein.

The doctor just nodded. Nabiki waited, arms folded across her chest. And then waited some more. No one was saying anything. Nabiki frowned meaningfully at Ranma. No one said anything. Nabiki stared at Ranma in disbelief. 'Time to use more drastic measures,' she thought. "Tell me what's going on here Ranma, or else," she threatened.

"Or else what?" asked Ranma.

"You wouldn't want someone," looking at Akane, "to see a certain set of pictures. Now would you?"

"Which pictures?" asked Akane innocently. "The ones of Ranma and Shampoo, the ones of Ranma and Ukyo? Oh, Ranma does Nabiki have pictures of you and Kuno?" Akane teased.

Ranma shuddered at the thought. "Probably," he said. "There was that time I really thought I was a girl. I think Kuno tried to kiss me." Ranma shuddered again. "Sorry Nabiki. Akane knows all about the pictures."

Nabiki 's jaw dropped in disbelief. This was not going the way it was supposed to. Ranma wasn't breaking and Akane… "Why aren't you getting mad? You're supposed to get mad at Ranma. You always get mad at Ranma."

Akane just leaned against Ranma 's shoulder. "Yes, I used to. I don't anymore," she answered simply. "I like it better this way."

"Me too," said Ranma. "Me too."

"You!" snarled Nabiki turning to Dr. Epstein "You must be the cause of all this…this..." She sputtered to a halt unable to find the words that she needed to describe what was going on.

"Happiness? Peace?" supplied Dr. Epstein calmly. "You seem to have a problem with you sister being happy. Why is that?"

"It's unnatural!" cried Nabiki in frustration. "Ranma says something stupid, Akane hits him with a mallet, Ranma flies into the pond. THAT'S what supposed to happen."

"And this is bad, how?" responded Dr. Epstein. "Really Nabiki, I would think a woman of your intelligence would have better control over her jealousy."

"Jealousy? Me?" asked Nabiki in shock "You think I'm jealous? That's ridiculous."

"Is it, Sis?" said Akane flatly. "I finally realized that a lot of the problems that existed between Ranma and myself were your doing."

"Me?" replied Nabiki. "How is it my fault?"

Akane held up a hand and began ticking fingers. "You invited Ukyo and Shampoo to the wedding. You told Kuno and Kodachi. You sold dates with Ranma to Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi. You took pictures of Ranma and me and sold them to Kuno. Should I go on? You did everything you could to keep us apart. What other reason could you have?"

"You want a reason?" snarled Nabiki "I'll give you a reason. Everything was fine until those two freeloaders came along." Waving her hands to indicate Ranma and his father "We were happy."

"Happy?" cried Akane in disbelief "you thought we were happy? Daddy cried all the time. Kasumi was forced to take our Mothers place. I had to fight through a gauntlet of BOYS every morning to get into school. How could you believe we were happy?"

"But we were together. We were a family," spat Nabiki. "We didn't need anyone else. Especially not them!" Nabiki sprang from the couch and ran up the stairs. She was crying.

Akane made as if to follow, but was restrained by Dr. Epstein. "Give her a little time before you go after her," said the doctor. "She's too angry to listen right now."

Akane sat back down, but continued to look in the direction that her sister had fled. Ranma took her hand to comfort her, but said nothing. He was stunned by Nabiki 's outburst and, truth to tell, felt guilty.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Ranma," said Dr. Epstein.

Ranma started. "I wish you wouldn't do that, doc. It's spooky."

"Sorry Ranma. It's not like I can turn it off. Especially when the emotions are so strong," replied the doctor in embarrassment. "Still, it isn't polite. I apologize."

Ranma waved a hand in dismissal, putting the incident aside. She was more concerned about with Nabiki and Akane anyway. Akane just continued staring in the direction her sister had fled. Finally, with a sigh she turned to Dr. Epstein. "I didn't know she felt that way," said Akane sadly. "I always thought it was just to make money. But this... I don't understand Doctor. Why?'

The doctor thought for a moment. "Everyone deals with loss differently," he said at last. "When you mother died." Akane winced. The doctor continued. "When you mother died, the balance in the family was lost. Over time the balance returned. But for Nabiki, I would guess she never really felt safe and secure. She needed things to stay the same."

"So when Ranma and his father showed up…" began Akane.

The doctor nodded. "Exactly, suddenly things weren't predictable." The doctor paused for a second and was about to continue when a husky voice interrupted him.

"I hate not knowing," sniffed Nabiki. She was standing at the foot of the stairs. "I hate not being in control."

"Nabiki!" cried out Akane. She ran to her sister. "Is Dr. Epstein right?"

Nabiki nodded. "You don't know what it was like after Mom died," said Nabiki in an almost emotionless voice. "Daddy," Looking over to her father and Genma playing shogi on the porch, "Daddy was useless. He hardly left his room. He had no students and Mom's hospital bills had used up most of what we had." Tears began to leak from Nabiki 's eyes. "I found Kasumi looking in the kitchen one day, crying. She had this big stack of bills in one hand and our bank ledger in the other. And she didn't know what to do!"

Akane reached out to her sister to offer comfort, but Nabiki angrily waved her away. "I took the bills and the ledger away from her and took over the house accounts." Tears were flowing freely now. "I saved this family! I saved our home!" she raged beginning to ramble in her anger "Numbers! Numbers are safe. Numbers don't change. Numbers don't..." She broke off unable to continue.

"I don't understand," said a confused Akane. "What does this have to do with me and Ranma?"

"Because from the moment they arrived, everything changed," answered Nabiki. "Do you realize how much those two eat?" Ranma flinched "Not to mention the damage they would do to the dojo and the house. Then there were the medical bills, the kidnappings, and the lawsuits. We were in danger of losing everything."

"And…and I was afraid." Nabiki blushed in shame "I tried to drive them both away. I wanted it to be the way it was. When we were safe."

"Safe?" asked Akane

Nabiki nodded, looking down, unable to meet her sister's gaze. "Stupid, huh? I knew you weren't happy. I knew Kasumi wasn't happy. But we were together. Safe."

"And there's more," whispered Nabiki.

"More?" asked Akane in trepidation.

Nabiki nodded. "No matter what happened. No matter how much you two fought, I could see that you were beginning to care for each other. And I didn't want that to happen. So I arranged' things to drive you two apart." Nabiki admitted. "How do you think Shampoo Ukyo and Kodachi always knew where Ranma was? It was me."

"But why?" asked Akane in a whisper.

"Because." She looked at Dr. Epstein. "I was jealous," she admitted. "Kasumi had Tofu, you had Ranma and I had no one. No one!"

"Oh, Nabiki," said Akane. "Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you talk to me?"

"I wanted to. Don't you think I wanted to?" sobbed Nabiki. "But I couldn't. I had to be strong. I am the 'Ice Queen' remember?"

Akane pulled her sister into a hug. Inwardly she was torn between wanting to comfort her sister and yell at her for causing so much pain. In the end her love for her sister won.

"It's alright Nabiki. It's alright," soothed Akane.

"No, it's not," cried Nabiki. "I hurt you, I tried to break you and Ranma up. How can it be alright?"

"Because you're my sister," said Akane. "And I love you."

All during Nabiki 's confession Ranma found himself being wracked with guilt and shame. He never considered Nabiki 's feelings, never cared about the impact he and his father had had on the Tendo home. Sure he felt anger over some of the things that she had done to him in the past, but after hearing Nabiki 's side of the story, seeing the pain on her face, Ranma could, in the end, only feel responsible. He needed to do something, anything to make amends.

"Nabiki?" said Ranma in a hesitant voice "I... I didn't know. I'm so sorry, but I didn't know. What can I do to make it up to you? Please there must be something I can do."

Nabiki looked at Ranma and disengaging herself from her sisters embrace, stalked over to the red haired girl. "Do?" she hissed "Do you want to know what you can do?"

Ranma nodded.

"What you are going to do, Ranma Saotome, is break off all you other engagements and marry my sister." She paused. "You've hurt her enough with you indecision. You either do the right thing or you leave. Got it?"

Ranma nodded. "I think I can do that," she said with a small smile.

"Good," replied Nabiki, and then a smirk appeared on her face. "And for only 10,000 yen I'll make sure nothing interferes this time. I'll put it on your tab." Nabiki turned away and walked toward the stairs. When she reached the foot of the stairs she turned back around. "Oh and Ranma?" she said sweetly.

Ranma suppressed a shudder at her tone. "Yes?" she croaked.

"Do you think you could call me 'sister'?" she said in a small voice.

Ranma 's smile became a huge grin. "Sure thing," she said. "Sis."

Nabiki 's smile was just as wide and then she turned and ran up the stairs. Akane watched her go until she disappeared and then she walked back to the couch and sat down. Ranma put his arms around her and pulled her into an embrace. "You okay?" she asked.

Akane nodded.

Ranma looked over to Dr. Epstein. "Thank you," she said.

"For what?" asked Dr. Epstein with a smile.

"You know. Keeping Pops and Mr. Tendo away from us." She said. "Nabiki was right, they're not acting normal. I figured you were doing something. Am I right?"

"Very perceptive Ranma," said Dr. Epstein approvingly. "I've been dampening their emotions ever since I got here."

"I thought that you weren't supposed to do that?" asked Akane.

"No not exactly," admitted the doctor sheepishly. "What I won't do is use my abilities to harm them or those around them. I see nothing wrong with using them to assist in my patients healing. Considering the emotions that your fathers were broadcasting, I think I would have been wrong NOT to have interfered."

"Hey, Doc," asked Ranma in a voice that contained a hint of suspicion. "You weren't 'dampening' anyone else's emotions? Were you?"

"Why, of course, I was," said the doctor with a small smile.

Ranma thought about it for a moment. Then a rueful smile appeared on her face. "Well, I for one really appreciate it," said Ranma.

After some thought, Akane nodded in agreement and said, "Ranma 's right, thank you."

"You're very welcome," said the doctor. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to head on home." And with that Dr. Epstein got up. Seeing Ranma and Akane about to get up, he said. "You two stay right there, I'll let myself out." And with that Dr. Epstein left.

Ranma and Akane sat together, not talking. Just enjoying each other's company. Ranma sat across Akane 's lap. She had her arms around her neck and her head on her shoulder. Akane had her arms around her, hugging her gently against her body.

Ranma sighed and Akane could feel her whole body relaxing. It was like a too tight spring suddenly loosening. "Akane."

Akane lifted her head to look into his impossible blue-gray eyes. She smiled. "Yes Ranma?" she asked quietly.

"I'm happy." She said and hugged Akane tightly for a moment. It was a hug that said 'I love you, thank you for being here'. Akane hugged her back. "That's good, Ranma." She whispered, "You deserve it."

End Chapter 10

Thus ends the first story arc.

Obviously, I am in the Akane is the true fiancé camp. Well, Ranma and Akane are now officially an item.

Originally this was written as a stand-alone story I could publish it as a sequel or append it to the end of this story. My inclination is to keep going. The next story line involves Ukyo, my second favorite fiancé. Tell me what you think.

Thank you, dear readers, for your comments, suggestions and support. A special thanks goes out to Arthur Hansen. An excellent fan fiction writer without whom this work would be a lot poorer. Check out `Empathy'. You can find it on the Penultimate Ranma Fanfiction site.