% Good ole' DC wrote:

This is a side story to my next generation series,

% Ah. I remember you mentioning this.




Kasumi cast a worried glance at Akane before turning her attentions
back to her father.  "Daddy, see?  Akane's eating.  Why don't you try
some also?"

Nabiki sighed and tried to turn a death

% deaf

ear to the proceedings.  She
had tried to stay up in her room so that she would not be able to see
her dad and sister like this.  They were basically vegetables

% Ah, but what kind? I see Soun as being something leafy, while Akane
being something like...say...a carrot. ^_^

ever since
they had gotten back from China, after Ranma has

% had

disappeared into thin
air.  However, she found herself filled with apprehension as she stayed
up in her room, wondering that

% drop 'that'

blaming them for the
incident.  Kuno was not much better after it was explained to him that
his 'pigtailed goddess' was gone now that her 'master' was gone.

% Heh. That's one way of explaining things.

 His
sister and Akane not in their right minds did not help things.  Mousse's
mourning was the real surprise.

% That is a suprise.

  However, Nabiki suspected it was more
for the way Ranma affected Shampoo than any real grief over Ranma
himself.

% Ah. That makes sense.


Nabiki couldn't resist any longer and turned to look at the two still
figures being cared for.  Their eyes remained blank, staring into
nothing.

% Ah, so they read the latest chapter of DDFA's 'The Fanfic Formerlly
Known As...'  ^_^


Akane's dull eyes flashed with hatred as Kuno's words reached her.  Her
hand shot out with ferocious speed and grabbed his shirt.  Roughly, she
pulled him to her until his face was an inch from her own.  "Kuno.  If
you ever say that again, I will _hurt_ you.  Ranma _is_ coming back.

% Yep. Just not for a while. A long while.


*Ranma, I admit it.  Where are you?  I give up.  I'll say if

% it

clearly now.
The pigtailed girl, he refused to call her, Ranma, may be gone, but
Akane was not.  As long as her body was still here, she might still be
saved.

% Yep. But not by him.

Kuno took up the picture and let a finger graze across Kodachi's
cheek.  *How lucky you are, sister.  So easy for you to escape
reality.*  Kodachi was in hands far more capable to taking care of her
than he would ever be able to.  In some ways, Kuno found himself jealous
of that fact.

% An unusual admission, but not OOC.

  He shook his head to clear it of the folly he was
thinking.  Folly to be envious of being crazy, was it not?

% Pretty much.

* * * * *
beaten Ranma.  The
more you tried to deny him something the stronger he tried to get it.
If she couldn't outright tell him that he could not see Akane, she would
have to divert his attention.

% Heh. Since I've read the mainstory, this is some diversion ^_^

"Oh, it is you, Nabiki," Kuno sniffed.  "I was hoping to see your
sister today.  Is she well enough to see visitors today?

% I'd drop the first 'today.' it makes the second one seem repetitive, and
I think the second is the more useful of the two.


Kuno sat at the restaurant and found that he could only stare at the
middle Tendo sister.  It seemed that the girl was truly smitten with
him.  It was understandable, but not something he could deal with.  When
he had tried to let her down gently, the girl had cried and went on
about telling Akane how he had hurt her.

% Hehehehe.

 A very difficult situation.

Nabiki tried her best to look demure and hurt.  She took a finger and
started to circle the rim of her glass of water, while her head was
bowed down, her eyes careful to avoid contact with the boy in front of
her.  "I know that your heart belongs to my sister, but I find myself
irresistibly drawn to you.  All I ask is that you let me be your girl
friend for a few weeks.  I won't bother you ever again after that."

*Why did I not see this?  The meetings about selling pictures had all
been a pretext to see me.  How it must have wounded her heart to give me
the images of my loves, her rivals.

% heh. Typical Kunou.


"Bwee!"

Akari looked up from the pigpen.  "Ryoga?"

% Ah, so you are dealing with Akari.


No, it wasn't him, just one of her pigs.  *Silly piglet.  Why do you
keep thinking he'll be back?* Akari asked herself.

Their parting had been strained, but a reasonably amicable one.  Ryoga
had looked so sad worried

% sad, worried

 about how she might react.  He had been
surprised when she had said 'okay' and gave him a peck on his cheek.
The relief and concern he had on his face told her all she needed to
know.  He loved Akane more than he loved her.  *I hope you're happy with
Akane, Ryoga.*

% Time to get ole' Kastsunishiki out and send him to attack guys until one
defeats him. ^_^

* * * * *

Ryoga grunted as the bar of soap hit him in the face.  He tried hard
not to dodge as a bucket hit him on the chest.  It hurt like hell.


% Must have revealed his curse.

Running out of ammunition, Akane ran at the pervert with her fists.  It
was over in another five minutes.  She stood there staring at the bloody
mess that was Ryoga, trying to make some sense of what she had seen when
she entered the furo only to see her pet jumping into the hot water and
a boy emerging.  *Ranma... you knew about this,* Akane thought angrily
for a moment before realizing what was feeling.  Anger at _him_.  *No,
this isn't your fault, Ranma.  You must have had some reason to do it.
I didn't mean it!  I wasn't angry, really!*

% Ah. I like that reaction. She's afraid her anger might have driven Ranma
away, at least sub-consiensly


Ryoga groaned as he got up from the beating he had just received, and
stared after the fleeing girl with tears streaming down her face.
Despite the injuries he knew his body had newly acquired, the only thing
he could think of was to get dressed and make sure Akane was all right.
His feeling of protectiveness overrode any thought of personal
survival.  It wasn't until he had seen the full fury of her face that he
understood what he must do.  His guilt of being 'P-Chan' was pushed
aside for the moment as Akane's well being was the most important thing
right now.

Akane's wet footprints on the ground were fortunately visable enough
for him to find his way to her room.  He stood outside, putting his ear
to the door.  He could hear Kasumi's voice consoling her.  "I'm sorry,"
Ryoga whispered, knowing that she could not hear him.  It looked like it
would have to be the roof for him tonight.  *I'm sorry, Ranma, for what
I'm about to do, but Akane comes first.  I know you wouldn't want to see
her like this either.*

% Hmm. This should be interesting.

* * * * *

"What's with Ryoga?" Nabiki asked upon entering the living room.  Ryoga
was black and blue all over and seemed to be in a very deep sleep.  She
carefully placed the six shopping bags she had with her on the table,
hoping Kasumi would help her put them away.  *I should have pretended to
be Kuno's girlfriend earlier.*

% Heh. He is good at lavishing attention.

"Uh, he slept... I mean, he is... oh my!  How should I put this?  Ryoga
has been sleeping with Akane for the past year."

% Hmm. Yep. That was probably the worst way to do it, all right.


"What!?  But, but, what about Ranma?"

% Kasumi: Oh, Ranma was sleeping with me for the last year. I thought
everyone knew.



"That's because you're both stupid," Nabiki said, shaking her head.
But Ryoga did have a point.  This was exactly what Ranma would have
tried to do.

% And therefore the plan will probably succeed.


"Um... can you make sure she doesn't kill me?  I mean it won't work if
I'm not there to keep doing this," Ryoga said, scratching the back of
his head and grinned sheepishly at Nabiki.

Nabiki didn't know if she should have clapped her hands or banged her
head on the floor at this.

* * * * *

Akane stood staring up at the ceiling.  Teardrops welled up in her eyes
making it hard for her to see too clearly.  *I didn't mean it, Ranma.  I
wasn't angry at you.  You must have had some reason to keep it a secret
from me.  I know that you would never hurt me if you could help it.*

"Bwahahaha!  I tell you, Nabiki.  You think that joke was bad?  You
should listen to the time we snuck Happosai into the room as P-Chan.
Man, me and Ranma had fun with that one."

% Ohhh. That is wicked.


Akane blinked back her tears at sudden loud laughter emanating from the
floor of her room.  It was Ryoga downstairs, apparently talking to
Nabiki.  *What did he say!?  He's lying!*

% Yes.



"How ever long it takes."

"When our mother died, it took Akane six months to talk again."

"..."

% Oops.

* * * * *

Mousse raised up the sleeve of his robe, revealing his left arm.  It
was black and blue all over.

Nabiki understood.  He was trying the same thing with Shampoo.  "I hate
to say this Mousse, but you might be the wrong person to do this.  While
Akane hates Ryoga at the moment, she doesn't hate him enough to..."

"...deal any permanent damage.  However, Shampoo is a different story,"
Mousse finished for Nabiki.  "I agree with Ryoga in that respect.  It is
a chance I must take."

% Nabiki should avoid ordering any Peking Duck from there in the near
future.



"Oh?" Nabiki asked.  She would have figured Ukyo would have had the
toughest time getting over Ranma given her history of being stuck up on
the boy.

% A ten year obsession. Discarding her femininty. Nah. All perfectly
normal.


regulars had left when they realized it was not Ukyo cooking.  He had
gotten much better since his first attempt at it, but it was not even
close to the level the people that care

% came


Nabiki sighed.  Fortunately, Dr. Tofu was close by.  "Hey, you," she
said to a passing boy, she recognized from Furinkan.  "I'll give
you..."  Nabiki went to Kuno's prone body and searched for his wallet.

% Heh.

*Hmm, he carries quite a bit on him.*  "...one thousand yen if you help
me carry him to the clinic over there."

Nabiki grinned in satisfaction as the boy eagerly took up the job at
hand.  She took two thousand yen from the wallet before putting the
wallet back on his body.  *That should cover my fees,* she thought to
herself and followed after the two boys to Dr. Tofu's.

* * * * *

Kuno sat up and turned to the side.  It was a familiar looking scene.
His head ached, Nabiki sat watching, and he knew his wallet had just
gotten lighter.  "Where is Akane?" he asked, before realizing what he
was saying.  He was asking a woman that had fallen in love with him.  It
would be demoralizing for her to hear this.  Not to mention the fact
that said woman had the habit of squealing to anyone that would listen
and Akane would be sure to know about him playing with her sister's
heart.

Nabiki considered her answer as she looked at the vapid expression on
Kuno's face.  *One more sacrificial lamb might help ease Ryoga's task of
reviving Akane to her former self.  The problem is if Kuno could handle
the beatings.  Weeks of punching out Ryoga has toughened her somewhat,
and that is a guy that laughs at anything less than a boulder.*  "Oh, my
heart.  I can feel it breaking.  The first person you ask for when you
wake up is my sister?  I can see that you don't care for me."


% Heh.

Kuno thought quickly as he saw Nabiki about to get up from her chair by
his side.  *I have but another week to pretend to be her boyfriend.  I
can't let all this work go for naught.*  Closing his eyes, he sank back
to the bed.  He then quickly sat up again just before, Nabiki reached
the door.  "Nabiki," he said before collapsing, pretending that he had
only been talking in his sleep the whole time.

Nabiki smirked.  *He's smarter than I give him credit for.  Oh, well,
might as well play this to the hilt.  You better get well soon, Akane.*
Nabiki went back to the bed where Kuno did an adequate job of appearing
to be asleep.  "Oh, Kuno-chan!"

Kuno felt his cheeks flush as he felt something soft and warm drape
over him.  Before he could open his eyes to check exactly what was
happening, the feeling was gone.

"Oh, sorry, was I intruding?" Tofu said as he entered the room.

"No, not really.  I was just leaving," Nabiki said, smoothing out her
dress as she stood up.  *Heh, that should give the guy something to
think about and buy me some time.*

Tofu watched as Nabiki left the room before turning to look at Kuno.
"Kids these days are so forward."

*Forward?  What does he mean?* Kuno thought frantically, trying to
think what it could have been that was pressed against him.

"I don't know what I'd do if K-K-Kasumi was like that."

*Uh oh,* Kuno thought, before he could expand on what had happened with
Nabiki just now.

% Heh.

He felt the bones of his arm start to break.  It was
fortunate that fool doctor would be able to fix what he broke in the
mean time though.  Kuno passed out a minute later and would later wake

"Stupid.  Why didn't you dodge?  Why don't you ever dodge?  I know
you're faster than me," Akane murmured, her voice wavering, as she
placed another wet cloth over Ryoga's forehead.

*I think it's time I ended this little charade,* Nabiki thought sickly
as she looked at the two people who where

% were

shattered and broken for
different reason.

% reasons.

* * * * *

"What!?  Why did you let him do this?  The stupid idiot," Akane
shrieked as she looked over the restless boy that hovered between sleep
and consciousness.

"Don't you understand?  Let me spell it out for you.  They guy's head
over heels for you," Nabiki said into Akane's uncomprehending face.
"L-O-V-E."

"Ryoga?  But he has Akari..."

"Where has he been since we came back from China?  He's been here, you
dolt.  He broke it off with Akari, so he could look after you.  Does a
normal boy break off a perfectly good relationship with another girl to
so he could look after another?"

% No. But then Ryouga isn't normal.

"Bastard, this is all your fault Ranma.  You knocked me into that
spring.  You have made my life a living hell!" Ryoga called out in his
semi-conscious state, seeming to respond to the conversation between the
two sisters.

% Well, that will explain some things.



Akane said firmly.  This new tidbit of information reinforced her belief
in her former fianc�e.  It also, strangely, made her at peace with
Ryoga's curse.  *I know Ranma would have killed Ryoga if he ever
suspected that I was being abused.*

% true.


"So, what do we do about Lost Boy?" Nabiki asked, surprised at the
steely resolve in Akane.  Her sister was back among the living.

"First we keep him until he's better.  After that, we'll see.  I still
haven't forgiven him and desecrating Ranma's memory to help me is not
something I'm happy with."

*Ulp,* Nabiki gulped as Akane's gaze fell upon her.  *Does she know I
helped Ryoga do this?*

% heh,

* * * * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Nabiki said, still shocked at what Kuno
was saying.

"I must have you both!" Kuno yelled leaping at Nabiki.

%Ah, he's starting to fall for her then.



She opened her door only to see Mousse standing there, ready to give
his daily opinion of her former husband.  She sucker punched him in the
stomach before he could talk.

% heh.

 "<Akane told me about you and Ryoga's
'idea' for making us better.  Now, that I know... say another bad word
about Ranma and I'll make sure your life is not worth living."

% forgot the '>'


"<Yes,>" Mousse managed to squeak out.

*Stupid, Mousse,* Shampoo thought shaking her head.  Even now she could
see the love in his eyes.  *Was I that bad with Ranma?

% Not quite, but close enough


Shampoo nodded.  "Violent Girl make things clearer."

"Good to hear that Shampoo,"

% that, Shampoo

 Akane said, running up to the pair when
she saw them on the streets.  "Going to school, Ukyo?"

"Yeah," Ukyo confirmed.  It was getting awkward at how little she found
she had to say to the others.

Shampoo decided to take the initiative when it looked like the three of
them might be standing there forever.  "Shampoo deliver food now.  Life
busy, must go on."

Akane and Ukyo were surprised as they heard how solemn Shampoo's voice
was.  Akane decided to follow Shampoo's example.  It needed to be said
out loud.  "Yeah, I've got a ton of stuff to catch up on with school.
After this year, it'll be just one more year before graduation.  My life
is quite full at the moment, but I think I'll manage."

Ukyo looked at the two expectant faces and slowly found herself
smiling.  "Yeah, I've got a lot going on with my life too."

Three heads nodded at one another, before Shampoo left Akane and Ukyo
to go to school as the new day began.

% Ah. A nice touch. A mutual signal to one another that they are going to
try to move on.


% A nice story that fills in the gaps of what had happened in the first
months over the intervening years.

D.B. Sommer