Dreams and Realities:  Part 4; **Close Encounters Of the Worst Kind**
By:  Numbski
Last Updated:  12/22/96

Legal Stuff:  All these characters were created by Rumiko Takahashi and I
therefore take no credit for them.  All I did was place a hypothetical
situation upon them.
---------------------------------------------------------

It had already been 2 weeks since the explosion.  Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki
have since been moved from critical condition to serious but stable.  The
wounds that they had recieved from the blast were healing nicely, and the
doctors felt that in another 2 weeks the three would be able to go home.
In the meantime, they were in recovery.  This meant one very important
thing:  visitors.

The three had ended up in the same ward, and there were a few times that
more than one of them were awake at a time, and they were able to keep one
another company, but it was going to be nice to finally be able to speak
with someone from the outside.  It was to their own amazement that Ranma
and Akane got along.  In fact not even once did they argue.  This was a
true miracle.  It is quite possible that the two were still in such shock
from the accident that they didn't have it in them to start fighting.
However, there was something deep down that made the three worry.  Ranma
and Akane had admitted their feelings for one another, and that meant that
several people were likely to be very unhappy. Those same people were
going to be the first ones to want to visit.

After the evening meal in the hospital, it was amazing that all three were
wide awake.  Visiting hours would be starting soon, so they waiting in
great anticipation of what the evening might bring.

When the time came, the first three to enter were Soun, Genma, and Kasumi.
They came in and gave hugs to the three injured kids.  The visitors
weren't exactly in peak shape themselves.  They all had burn scars that
bridled their bodies, even Kasumi.  She was still as beautiful as always,
but the scars were very visible.

"Hey Pop, we've been wondering, and we can't seem to get a straight answer
around here...what exactly happaened?"  Ranma looked quizzical, as did
Nabiki and Akane.  This was one puzzle that had plagued them for the whole
time they were in the hospital.  They wanted answers.

"Well, the authorities couldn't quite place it, however from our previous
experiences with it, it appears that Ryouga did his depression blast in
full force."  Genma tried hard to keep a look of consternation on his
face.

Ranma and Akane were both appalled.  They had considered the possibility
that Ryouga had done this, but neither believed Ryouga to be thoughtless
enough to pull such a stunt right inside the Tendo home.

"Is there anything left?  Of the house I mean.  Was everything destroyed?"
Akane spoke, looking like she was about ready to fall into tears.  It was
apparent that Ranma wanted to go over and comfort her, but he was unable
to move himself with all the wires and tubes run into him.  Soun however
went over to meet the need himself.

"Well, we were able to salvage most of the things from the upper floor of
the house that weren't smashed by the roof.  The house is done for, but
insurance should help us rebuild.  The dojo was unharmed.  We have
temporarily moved into the dojo until we decide what to do now."  Soun
tried to look strong for his daughters.  Soun was usually the first to
start wailing, but he knew he had to make this count, because if he
thought the situation was hopeless his daughters would follow in suit.

"Do you have the insurance papers?"  Nabiki sat up slightly, interested in
seeing the numbers for herself.  She had been away from her books for too
long, and she felt left out as a  result.  "Maybe I can help sort through
this mess."

Soun shook his head in a negative manner.  "Your primary concern is to get
well.  Don't worry about the finances, I haven't completely forgotten how
to do that myself."  He looked over at the clock on the wall and nodded to
Genma and Kasumi.  "You have other visitors as well.  They will only allow
three at a time in here.  Saotome and I are going to wait outside, and
Kasumi will stay with you as the others file in."  

Soun hugged his daughters as Genma put a hand on Ranma's shoulder, both
exchanging knowing glances of what was to come.  Then the father's left,
while Kasumi sat in a chair in the corner.  The four braced for the worst.

*******

The waiting room was in absolute dissarray.  The nurse behind the counter
was in absolute panic, unsure whether to call security or run.  Two girls
had rushed and grabbed her, telling her to get out of here.  She had never
seen such a mess in all her years at the hospital, and didn't know what to
make of the two bodies on the floor in the waiting room.

*******

It had looked harmless enough when a large party of people gathered in the
waiting room to visit the Tendos and Mr. Saotome,  or so she thought.  The
two fathers and the eldest sister went in while the other four took seats
in the waiting room.  Make that five.  One more got dragged in by another
that was wearing a rather LARGE spatula on her back.

The five took seats in random spots in the room.  Tatewaki and Kodachi
Kunou sat across from the receptionist, Shampoo four seats to the left
with a pair of bonbouri folded in her lap.  Ryouga sat back to back to
her, and Ukyou sat five seats down from him.

It remained rather quiet in the room at first, and seemed rather harmless
in fact.  Until someone spoke up.

"Ah, what a pitious fate, that a pair of the beatiful Tendo sisters be
trapped in such a horrible accident! This certainly must be that cur
Saotome's fault.  I swear I will have vengeance!"  His eyes were shaking
wildly as he spoke.  His body did likewise as all those in the room eyed
him with wonder.

"Oh shut up, sugar.  There was no way that was Ran-chan's fault.  From
what I've been told he, Akane and Nabiki were upstairs when the explosion
went off.  Besides, why on earth would he put himself at risk if he really
wanted to hurt them?"  Ukyou was doing her best to contain her anger.
>From the look on Ryouga's face, she had a hunch that Ryouga had more to do
with this than his status as a "victim".

"Ranma has more to do with this than you probably realize Ukyou.  This
probably would never have happened if he...if only he..."  Ryouga was now
gritting his teeth and had a flowing blue aura swirling around him.

"Shampoo no believe you stupid boy.  Ranma good man.  He be good husband
to Shampoo.  He no hurt someone on purpose.  Not his friends.  I want
violent tomboy dead, but Ranma no hurt her."  Kodachi and Ukyou looked at
Shampoo in surprise.  Not that she had come to his defense, but the stance
she had taken with Akane.  One would think that she would say something
like 'good riddance', but instead she was almost happy that Ranma hadn't
hurt Akane.

That didn't stop Ukyou and Kodachi from responding.  Almost at the same
time, Ukyou and Kodachi spoke.  "Ranma isn't going to marry you, Shampoo.
He's going to marry me!" They stopped, looked at each other and blinked.
Shampoo looked on and did likewise.

Ryouga and Kunou took this moment to give each other a look of 'here we go
again' before the girls took battle stances on each side of them.  After a
yawn, Ryouga decided that he didn't like the idea of girls mauling each
other over his enemy, so he stood up in front of Shampoo and Ukyou, as
Kunou did the same with his younger sister.

"Why do you guys ALWAYS have to fight over that jerk Ranma!?"  Ryouga
couldn't understand it.  "Ranma always treats you two horribly, and yet
you insist on chasing him down and marrying you.  What on earth are you
thinking???"

"The words Hibiki speaketh ring true, dear sister.  Ranma has no interest
in you or marriage, so be done with him."  Kunou spoke in a very somber
tone, almost a fatherly speech.

"Honey, it seems that you men have no idea what girls need or want.  Maybe
it's time we taught YOU a lesson?"  Ukyou now took on an evil grin.
"Besides, I think you had more to do with this mess than you've let on."
Ukyou took a mighty swing at Ryouga, narrowly missing his face and leaving
a beatifully spatula shaped hole in the floor.

"What?  Why on earth would I want to hurt Akane?  I could never...HEY!"
He was forced to quit explaining as he was attacked from behind by
Kodachi, who had decided to take the offensive.  She whirled a ribbon in
his direction.  Ryouga countered by pulling a bandanna off of his head and
slicing the ribbon.

"Why you so infatuated with stupid tomboy Akane?  She ugly, no can cook,
and no can fight?"  Shampoo decided she ought to join in, if for no other
reason than to blow some steam. Besides, the thought that anyone would
like Akane more than her was simply infuriating.  She lashed out at
Ryouga's knees with a bonbourri.  Ryouga managed to leap and dodge,
landing on a table in a corner, directly next to Kunou.

"How dare you speak of Tendo Akane in such a manner, filthy woman!  Raised
like an animal, you dare speak of beauty!"  Kunou quickly pushed back the
realization that he was attacking a woman, and slashed at the
purple-haired amazon girl.  Shampoo easily dodged, and took up a flanking
position next to Ukyou.  Kodachi joined the line on the opposite side of
Ukyou, and the two sides seemed to prepare for war.

"We're a bit outnumbered here Kunou."  Ryouga spoke a little nervously to
his rival.  He managed a weak laugh as he faced his opponents.  He looked
over at Kunou and saw a rather large drop of sweat perched on his
forehead.  

"It's time to end this little party.  Defend yourselves!"  Kunou raced
forward.  "Tatatatatatatatatatatatatatata!"  Lashing out with his 100
blows attack, he swung at a blocking Ukyou, who's spatula was taking quite
the beating.  Seeing an opening, Ryouga dashed up behind Kunou, lept to
his shoulders and bounded over the swings and Ukyou.  He landed behind her
and kicked her into the flurry of blows.  He then turned to face a rather
PO'ed Shampoo and Kodachi.

"Stupid Boy, you think you take both us at once?  Stupid Boy."    Shampoo
lauched a bonbouri at Ryouga's chest region.  Ryouga jumped straight into
the air, and was met by one of Kodachi's clubs.  She launched it right as
he took to the air, and caught him squarely in the head.  Ryouga went down
HARD.

"Tatatatatatatatatatata!"  Kunou was just finishing off his 100 blows
attack as he began to feel a softer resistance.  Ryouga had kicked Ukyou
right into the middle of the blows, and she was eating every single one of
them.  Kunou finished his attack and found that his adversary was glowing
a very charming tone of blue.

"That's it jackass, you've had it!"  She proceeded to launch a mass
quantity of hand spatulas Kunou's direction, aimed toward his upper body
region, while she swung her combat spatula at his legs.

"Tatatatatatata!"  Kunou managed to parry of the hand spatulas with his
bokken, just in time to block the swing of the combat spatula at his legs.
He smiled to himself just as his face felt a cold slice.  A lone bonbouri
had decided to come say hello.  Across the room stood a somewhat unhappy
Shampoo.  Ukyou finished the job by clubbing Kunou over the head with the
blunt face of her spatula.  Kunou dropped.

*******

"UUUUUUngggggghhhh!"  Ryouga began to struggle to his feet.  He'd had
enough of this fight.  Kodachi, Shampoo, and Ukyou were swarmed around a
floored Kunou, almost acting as a sheild.  Party time.

"Bukusai Tenketsu!"  The floor exploded in shrapnel and clobbered the
three girls forward.  Each sustained cuts in the back, but otherwise
seemed no worse for the measure.  They now turned, very angrily toward
Ryouga.

"You must be losing it, Sugar.  There's no way you can beat all three of
us!"  They began marching toward him very slowly, with almost murderous
looks in their eyes.

"You stupid fool, Akane no love you."  Shampoo's steely eyes bore
themselves deep into Ryouga's.  He felt as if a knife had just seared
right into his skull.  The pain in his heart began to grown very steadily.
It burned deeply, and he had no way to control it.

"Ho ho ho, you cretin.  Ranma-sama is always going to be more of a man
than you will ever be.  You are a self-righteous pig, and will never be
more than that.  Face it, you're a loser!"  Kodachi, seemed to have a
little bit of blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth.  She held a
spiked club in her hand, and didn't seem to have any inhibitions about
using it.

"You vile creature, it was you that injured the lovely Tendo Nabiki, as
well and the beautiful Tendo Akane!  You are truly worse than that foul
sorceror Saotome.  Prepare to meet your maker Hibiki!"  Kunou now stood
behind the girls, all 4 seemed to want Ryouga's head on a stick.

Ryouga's heart continued to burn in pain.  Had he no allies?  Did no one
care for him or love him?  He neglected to notice that he once again was
illuminating everything around him.  His heart pained.  He longed for
something that was entirely out of reach...

*******

"Sugar?  Ryouga snap out of it!"  Ukyou stood over the prone body of
Ryouga.  He still hadn't gotten up from the hit to his head from that
club.  This was very unusual for Ryouga.  He could usually take hundreds
of hits such as that one and never even flinch.  Ukyou began to worry.

The other two girls tended to Kunou on the other side of the room.
Besides a cut to the face, when Kunou woke up he would be fine.  The
attention of all three suddenly turned to Ryouga.  He was starting to glow
a dull blue.  This wasn't unusal for Ryouga, but they never saw it happen
when he wasn't consious.

"..why...always..."  Ryouga was sweating heavily, and was starting to
swirl with a red aura.  Ukyou knew this wasn't a good sign, and
immediately sat down and placed Ryouga's head in her lap, cradling him and
trying to dampen his throbbing ki.  She realized what had caused the blast
at the Tendo home, and it knew it would happen again if she didn't act
quickly.

"Shampoo, Kodachi!  Get Tatewaki out of here and and anyone else that is
remotely near.  Ryouga here may be about to loose his depression blast,
and I don't know if I can hold it off!"  Kodachi and Shampoo reeled with
understanding and quickly grabbed Kunou up off of the floor, and ran
toward the door.

*******

Genma and Soun proceeded to walk down the hall to let the first pair of
kids visit with Nabiki, Ranma, and Akane.  They were worried about what
might happen letting any of them into the recovery room, but were certain
that they would all listen to Kasumi, as no one ever argued with her
motherly nature.

They were stopped short as Shampoo and Kodachi rushed near them and
dragged them in the opposite direction.

*******

"Why must you taunt me?  I have always loved her!  I never meant to hurt
anyone..."  Ryouga was still delirous, lying in Ukyou's lap.  He was
sweating heavily and his ki was glowing a bright white.  The heat of his
ki was starting to impress itself upon Ukyou, but she wasn't about to give
up yet.  

She hugged Ryouga tightly to herself, hoping that the affection would get
through the misery that his ki was thriving on.  "We all care about you
hun, you aren't alone.  We all just have our own paths.  You have your
place with all of us."

"Why can't she love ME?!!"  Tears streamed down Ryouga's face.  He still
wasn't consious, but the pain was very real.  Tears fell down upon
Ryouga's body. They weren't all his own, for Ukyou too had felt the pain
ring throughout her body.  

She hugged him even closer, for her own support, if not only his.  "I love
you, Ryouga.  Do you here me?  *I* love you!  Isn't that enough?"  She
continued to cradle the lost boy's body against hers.

Ryouga's body was still growing bright when security arrived in the
waiting room.

*******

"Damn you, Saotome!  I will not allow this to continue!

Shichihakoudan!!!!"

Ryouga watched as they were all being vaporized before him.  Kodachi,
Shampoo, and Kunou.  Something was wrong though.  Ukyou wasn't in front of
him anymore, instead she was holding onto him. 

"I love you, Ryouga.  Do you here me?  *I* love you!  Isn't that enough?"
She wailed as she held to him tightly.  Ryouga's heart began to melt as he
realized what he was doing.  It was too late though.  The blast steadily
had burned Ukyou's arms off of him, and turned to ashes around him, as had
the other three.

"NO!!!"

*******

"NO!!!"

Ryouga sat straight up in Ukyou's lap, his ki steadily dying off.  Ukyou's
face lit up as she saw this happen, and hugged him tightly.

"Thank God!  I thought you were going to kill us both!"  She leaned over
and kissed him on the cheek.  "I'm glad you're alright." 

Ryouga didn't know what to make of his situation, although he hadn't had
much time to think about it as security decided that it was time for the
damage to the waiting room to cease.  The two were escourted out to a
waiting police car while the rest of security searched for the other three
involved.

*******

Well, that's it for part 4.  Things are steadily clearing up, but more
things are starting to become blurred.  Ukyou and Ryouga?  It's been
pondered for quite a while now, but is it really possible?  We still don't
have any word on Kunou and Nabiki either.  It's certain that it will all
come out in the wash, so stay tuned!

and now for the sig

Numbski's Outta Site:  http://panther.greenville.edu/~ashadwic
Dreams and Realities Homepage:
http://panther.greenville.edu/~ashadwic/ranma/dreams.htm