(Continued from [FF] [R.5] Age Don't Matter Week 02: Eastern Rain)
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Evening in the Tendo residence.
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"... a sure sign that the summer is ending, and that fall is coming in,
so pack up your swimsuits, pack in your umbrellas, and make sure to tell
the kids that schooltime is coming round..."
Soun nodded at the television set, then turned to his companion.
The panda supped from his mug, set the mug on the table and nodded as
grimly as a large marsupial could.
She was unnoticed, a fixture that sat up, took the tray and left the
room.
-----
Nabiki nodded to herself. She knew what she wanted, but she was not
really sure if she was going to risk it.
She knew what she had seen. And if she was wrong, then...
She hid the grin and plodded downstairs, and didn't wait for her younger
sister.
-----
Ranma had just finished repacking, and now sat crosslegged, sighing. He
kept an eye on the three drawstring knapsacks, but still actually had to
open all of them to confirm their contents. He carefully slid his bag
under the extra futons in the closet, and gave the laundry bags a slight
kick. It gave a thick *thump*, which somehow delighted him, in a very
small measure.
He sat down again, and put his hands on his knees.
It was then he noticed someone peering in from the hallway.
He didn't say anything, and neither did she, and it was that way for a
few moments until Akane took a few steps into the guestroom. She
measured a comfortable distance from his steady glance, sat down
crosslegged opposite Ranma, setting his towel on her lap.
They stared at each other for moments more.
"Hello," said Akane.
"... Hello," said Ranma, finally.
Silence.
"... umm... you're Akane, right?" Ranma hazarded.
For a moment, it seemed like she hadn't heard him. Then, she nodded,
slightly. But the glare was beginning to get to him.
"Is there something... wrong?"
He swore that that was the wrong thing to do. Akane burst into tears.
He jumped back, shocked and surprised. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop
his mouth immediately. "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's-?" He
slapped himself, then stepped forward. "What's... what's the matter?"
Akane turned up to look at his worried face, and wiped at her eyes with
her towel. She was still crying when she said, "I... I miss her."
-----
"DAMN IT!"
Kasumi stomped around the kitchen to the sink, where she slammed the tray
down hard enough to make a rattling noise that did not cause damage.
Fuming, she stalked off, only to return to the tray and slam it once
more.
"Oooooohh!" She paced a bit more, then noticed her apron, which she
roughly took off and tossed in a clump on the abused tray. "Arrrrrrh!"
She took a seat at the table and sat down as gruffly as she could.
"Damn it..." she said, as she slid forward, her arms on the table. "It's
just... not... fair..."
Drained, she sobbed into her arms silently.
The door opened, and Nabiki took a step forward. She turned, and closed
the door behind her.
"Whoa," she breathed. "Guess I'll have to do it myself."
-----
"Don't you miss your mom?"
Ranma was taken aback by the question. "I... you... why do you ask?"
Akane sniffed, not noticing his discomfiture. "My... our mom's dead."
"Oh." Ranma held his breath, a sudden thought chilling him - he had to
physically shake himself back to the present. "Oh. I'm... sorry to hear
that."
She sniffled again, but this time, she tried not to cry. "It's been
long, but I miss her a lot, y'know? I mean, she, she... you see 'sumi-
neechan and 'biki-neechan, they're keeping quiet and you think they're
happy, but you know it isn't true...," here she bowed her head and looked
at the floor, "they're worse off than me."
Ranma was concerned, but didn't see why she was concerned about her
sisters. "I don't see how they can be...?"
"You don't have sisters, do you?" She continued when he stopped, with a
blank expression. "Kasumi-neechan... she was okay for a while, she said
everything was going to be okay, 'n' that Mommy wouldn't want me to cry
all the time, and she gave me all her teddy bears, 'n' she's been...
she's been trying to be Mommy, cooking and cleaning and worrying about
the groceries... and Nabiki-neechan is so lonely sometimes, she wouldn't
sleep sometimes unless I sleep with her, in bed, and hug her, and talk to
her, and sing to her, until she's asleep." She smiled. "I love hugging
'biki-neechan."
"Oh." Ranma didn't notice how close he had slid next to Akane, how much
more of a whisper her voice had become - all he knew was that she was
lonely, and that what would make her feel better would be to hold her...
"Anyway," and all of a sudden she sprang up, causing Ranma to sit back
down and look up with a sheepish grin, "I hope we all could be friends."
She put out a hand to him.
He stared at the hand and was surprised when he grabbed it.
He pulled himself up, then shook her hand, and smiled. She smiled, too.
He shook her hand a little more. "Friends."
"Yes," she said.
A few moments more, then Akane disengaged her hand. Picking up her
towel, she only afforded one more glance at Ranma, which was when she
turned at the doorway.
Ranma noticed the way she tugged at her towel just so, heard the ruffling
terry cloth against her pajamas, and inhaled...
"Oy, Ranma!"
Ranma was surprised to see Nabiki peering from the doorway. His hand
dropped to his side in a motion of forgotten fall. He couldn't
understand why he was feeling so warm.
Nabiki noticed the blush on Ranma's cheeks, and couldn't help but feel
balmy herself. She held her towel tighter around herself, and took two
quick breaths. "Errr... I figured you might want to take a... a bath,
it's ready, y'know... I'm... I'm already doing, done, with, it... so...
you gonna take a bath now or what?"
"Uhhhhh... yeah. Sure, Nabiki. I could... use... a bath. Sure,
thanks." He woodenly turned to the closet and - "Nabiki?"
"Yeah?" She almost toppled down. "What?"
He had a quizzical look. "Are you really lonely?"
"WHAT?" She closed her mouth and asked again. "What did you just say?"
"Lonely? You know, at night?" He was able to locate his towel. "I..."
He thought about what Akane had said for a moment, and steeled himself.
"I... I get... lonely... sometimes."
Nabiki's eyes widened. "You do?" She heard her heart beating in her
ears and she gulped her surprise down heavily. "Even... at night?"
"Only at night," he said, and smiled, glad that this was easier than he
thought.
"Oh, yeah...?" Nabiki looked down and noticed that her towel was very
short. "Well... now that *you're* here, maybe we can be... lonely...
together..."
Ranma put the clothes he needed in one pile. "I was sort of thinking
that we do something so that we won't be lonely..." He turned up from it
-
- only to hear Nabiki's quickly retreating footsteps.
He let his hand stay up. "Hmmmmmm... for a first try, that wasn't too
bad..." He stared at the hand. "Friend."
---
Nabiki leaned her back against the wall and stilled her breathing, then
she slowly shook her head. In a moment, she smiled broadly, ran a hand
through her hair, calmly walked to the door and slid it open.
-----
Ranma placed his used clothes into a neat pile, then the new clothes on
top of that, altogether ignoring the hamper, and put it on a corner of
the outer bath, beside the door. Sliding the stool closer to the wall,
he closed the tap and stared at the cold water that rippled as he jostled
the basin.
Friends... he once had a friend, didn't he? A couple, through the years
and travels, he could see Ukyo's proud face, wearing a fierce expression
under a cloth headband - Ryoga's angry face under the same headband...
how would they react if they knew of his shame? Laugh. Ridicule him.
Pick on him, probably - he knew how much they despised him for being
better, for beating them up - but that was why they were friends. Now,
he would be nothing in their eyes.
But Akane... Nabiki... maybe, yes, maybe even Kasumi, maybe, they would
understand... the confusion... the pain...
He raised the basin above his head, bowed and upturned it.
"Ranma..." Then the door of the bath slid open.
He looked up - to a closed door.
"Ranma..." With some horror, Ranma realized a) the door he heard was the
inner bath and b) he recognized the voice. He stiffened in his seat.
"Ranma..." Nabiki wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You know... I
was getting... lonely... in the bath..." Then she leaned into his back,
giving Ranma tactile information to feed his currently overworked
imagination.
His mouth was already flapping open and shut, and he finally found a way
to talk while keeping his back ramrod straight. "-a-wha-wha-wha-wha-what
are you doingggg?" His voice was quite higher in pitch to Nabiki's ear;
it delighted her.
It wasn't well then that Nabiki was playing her hands all the way down
along his torso - the good thing was Nabiki had to pull herself back.
Ranma had the impression of powerful legs to his sides to compensate.
"Wondering if you were lonely tonight..."
Ranma was now sure that lonely was not the term. Nabiki stopped and
pondered his nipples, but continued on downward, toward his well-formed
abdominals.
For a long moment, Nabiki stopped there, as though caressing the ridges
of his breadbasket. They were both breathing harder now, and Nabiki had
pulled herself closer, bending her arms, breathing on Ranma's neck, hot,
deep puffs. Ranma was feeling heady, and the steam was pouring in from
the bath. Sweat was forming on both their bodies, dripping.
Nabiki tried to say something at that point, but her throat felt thick,
and she felt herself falling forward...
... and not finding anything.
In Nabiki's surprise, she overcompensated, losing her footing, landing
her chin on Ranma's back hard, causing the latter to jump up and sit back
down, right onto Nabiki's still-searching hand.
It was this point when a panda chose to open the door.
-----
Kasumi sat up, shaking her head. "It's his fault. It's his fault...
I'll show him." Then she stood up, and went to get some clothes for her
bath.
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Genma ambled back to the guestroom. He didn't bother to open the light
as he took a futon from the closet. Soon, he was snoozing.
The door opened once more, by someone who did not want to extract comment
from the bulk. The figure walked to the side of the slumbering mass.
Carefully, Akane positioned herself behind Genma, and took as much panda
in her arms as was comfortable.
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Age Don't Matter
an alternate history Ranma 1/2 story
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo
I know that Ranma 1/2 is not mine. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi,
Shogakukan, Kitty Film and Viz Communication. Luckily, it also belongs
to all of us. The little people rule!
Next: I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm definitely going to
sort it out.
As per usual, C&C is welcome, and anyone willing to be a pre-reader or a
continuity consultant will be given the load as soon as they want it.
Errrrr... happy Hogswatchnight?
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The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar, Llewe and Katana @ http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ NEW!
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