Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten Memories ❯ He Had Come ( Prologue )

**** All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is just one of my ideas! So don't judge me just because of my imagination! ^_^ (\/) cyancat ****

Forgotten Memories

Prologue

He had come to her room one night, desolate and forlorn, seeking a shoulder to cry on. News of his mother's death had reached him and now he was mourning the only one that had truly cared for him. Seeing a new side to the pitiful boy, she let him stay with her and tried her best to comfort him. They were from the same village, nonetheless and she too knew the heartache of losing a loved one.

It was then that she saw the boy in a new light. His caring heart, his indomitable spirit, his tenderness towards her everyday, whatever it was, she wanted so badly to help heal the hurt burrowing into his core. Lifting his head towards hers, she softly kissed him on the lips. At first it was a floating kiss which then quickly deepened into a passionate demanding kiss.

His eyes flashed open in surprise, but for the first time in his life, he didn't back away. He closed his eyes once more and answered to the kiss given to him, wrapping his arms around her and pulled her closer.

Morning found the two together asleep in her bed, arms wrapped around each other in an embrace. The boy awoke to the sun shining in his face and turned to look at the girl sleeping soundly beside him. He brushed a stray strand of violet hair from her face and smiled at her. The thing he had wished for so many years had finally come true, yet now as he stared down at her, he felt that he didn't deserve it.

He had done nothing in his life to deserve her, this, and he knew that he had to leave. He had to go and find a way to deserve her respect, to bring honor upon her. Kissing her slumbering form once more before closing the door behind him, he sighed in remorse and then walked off with his pack over his shoulder into the way of the rising sun.

She awoke to find herself alone on her bed. A slip of paper was beside her, written by the one she had shared the night with.

'I am sorry that I left you so soon. Even after what has happened between us, but

I don't deserve you like this. I have done nothing to deserve the right to love you and

care for you. I leave with a heavy heart, but I hope that I will return to you soon and that

you will forgive me. Until our fateful day, I leave you with only a memory of myself

from the past. I will think of you everyday that I am gone. Please remember that I do

love you, now and without an end.'

Holding back any tears she might shed, she cleaned herself up and dressed quietly. Heading downstairs, she met her great-grandmother looking at her with an inquiring eye. She walked past the old woman and headed into the kitchen of the café, ready to start on the cooking for the brunch rush. Her great-grandmother just shook her head in obscurity and headed into the dining room.

Two months passed by and still he did not return. Mornings had become hard for her, as she became ill as soon as she awoke and there was hardly anything that she could keep down without retching. One day, after noticing the developments of her grand-daughter, her grandmother stopped her and asked her a question that even she hadn't thought of. After visiting the nearby doctor, the question was made reality. She was pregnant.

Not wanting others to find out about her condition, her grandmother sentenced her to stay at the café, to never leave the store again until her pregnancy was over. She did as she was told and stayed put. She stayed in the kitchen and cooked as the weeks went by, as the the counter was just high enough to hide her growing stomach.

Her grandmother hired a take-out runner and waitressed tables herself. All the girl had to do was cook and stay out of sight. Many times her friends would come by and at the moment of seeing them, she would run away upstairs to hide from them feigning an illness, as she had to cooperate with her grandmother's wishes.

When she wasn't cooking in the café below, she sat in her room and watched out the window, waiting for the boy that had loved her and then left for a reason that she believed wasn't right. Though in the eyes of their clan, it was right. A man had to make sure that he was worthy of the girl he loved and if he couldn't prove it, then he didn't deserve her. Four months changed to six and then eight months had passed by, but he still didn't return to her. She cried many a night, wishing he was there with her, to share the life of their child.

When she was into the ninth month of her pregnancy, her grandmother told her news that made her cry even worse than before. The baby that she carried could not be kept. As soon as she had the child, they were returning to their village. She had long ago determined that the boy was not coming back to the girl, as he did not even know of her pregnancy.

Her grandmother knew that no man of the village would want to marry her grand-daughter as long as she had a child of another man beside her. An unwed mother was not looked upon with very good regard and many women were tossed out of the clan just because they had a baby, yet had no man to marry and make a father of. The child would be given away to an orphanage and that would be the end of it all.

Two weeks later, the pains came and she realized that the time had come to have her child. She was saddened even more that now she would separated from the baby that had been produced from their love. The one thing that she had grown so close to over the months would not be with her when she left this city. Nearly half a day later, she found herself at the hospital, holding the baby that she'd carried for so long. It was a girl to her delight and dismay.

Borne with a mop of black hair and a pair of violet eyes just like her mothers, the baby was now cradled in the girl's arms. As she stared down at her daughter, her eyes shining with tears, she knew that it was the last time she'd see this angelic face again. Her great-grandmother entered the hospital room and advised her that it would be time to leave soon. She had to leave the baby now or else she could never let go.

She nodded solemnly and then looked to her grandmother and asked if she could at least take the child to the orphanage ward. Her grandmother nodded in agreement and then left the room. The girl turned to look at the little girl laying asleep in her arms. She sighed heavily and stood up. Walking down the hallway to the ward, she stepped in and found a nurse and hurriedly gave her the child before she could change her mind. Trying to quickly leave the room, she heard the nurse call out to her and she slowly turned back to face her.

"Does she have a name or do we need to give her one?"

"No, she has a name. It's Mousse."