Wish you never left - Chapter 2

      Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Viz Communications in North America). This work is strictly for the non-profit enjoyment of fans. No copyright infringement is intended.

      Last updated: 19/12/05

      Ranma started awake at the sharp scent of the smelling salts his father's heavy hand wafted under his nose. As soon as Ranma's his blues eyes opened, Genma's quick hands were pulling him into a sitting position, the salts vanishing into his sleave as if they had never been.

      "Doctor Tofu," the elder Saotome called out of guest bedroom the Saotome's shared, "My son is awake."

      The doctor and Nodoka rushed into the room, both with concerned looks. "How do you feel Ranma?" Tofu asked as he knelt and began examining his patient.

      "Fine, what happened? Someone hit me?"

      After a few moments the Doctor seemed happy with Ranma's condition and smiled to relax his concerned parents. "Well there seems to be no damage at all, which is rather surprising for being struck by lightning. You're showing some signs of fatigue, I had hoped you'd sleep for several more hours before waking. But then that is the least of the surprises you tend to bring, ne Ranma?"

      Though Tofu's statement raised many questions, Ranma's brow creased as he focused on one point, glaring at his father recalling the smelling salts, "Yeah, I probably could have done with a couple extra hours."

      Nodoka looked between her husband and son, not sure what the issue was, before recalling the pots cooking in the kitchen down stairs. "Ranma, do you want to get some more sleep? Dinner is nearly ready but I can hold some for you?"

      Smiling confidently for his mother, he turned from his father. "Nah, I'm okay. Dinner sounds good."

      "Very good my son, get changed and come down to the table then," Nodoka smiled and stood. Her movements held for a moment as she considered something then reached over to the chest of drawers they all shared and drew out his newest set of pants and his nice green silk blouse for him. "Why don't you wear these tonight?"

      As the adults left he began to change, wondering why his mother wanted him to be in some of his nicer clothes. He was just buttoning up the green shirt when he was seized and turned around by forceful male hands.

      "Ranma!" Soun all but shouted into his face, his wide and rather wild eyes darting to the door then to the window he had climbed in then back at him.

      "You have to tell me," he said in a strained and urgent whisper, "What was my dear departed wife's name?"

      The sound of Ranma's blinking was audible in the silence of the room, "Akane's mom? No idea, Akane never said. Why?"

      "Wahh-mmmmm"

      Soun's wailing cry was muffled by Ranma shoving his dirty and still slightly damp shirt in the elder man’s face, preferring not to have Akane's dad's tears on his green shirt.

      The sound of someone at the front door made Soun look up again, still obviously panicked over something scaring him and with sudden speed he vanished out the window into the night.

      With a shake of his head Ranma let the matter drop. Mr Tendo always was a little weird.

*****

      Having dumped his dirty clothes in the laundry, Ranma returned to the main hall on his way to the main room for dinner. Hearing the sisters talking inside of Doctor Tofu’s fast departure, he walked straight in and dropped to sit cross-legged beside his fiancé.

      "Akane, your old man is weird," he said simply, glancing at her on his right, Nabiki across from him and then at Kasumi in her spot on his left. His mind suddenly went on high alert.

      Kasumi was shorter.

      Kasumi had red hair.

      Kasumi had a more obvious figure.

      Kimiko blinked and the young man was gone, suddenly standing behind her daughter Akane rather than between them.

      Faced with his girl form sitting at the table in a long skirt and blouse, his mind quickly tried to make sense of the situation. His blue eyes suddenly narrowed as he realised her identity. "Hey, what are you doing out of the mirror?" he accused. He had thought that damn mirror had been sealed with his male and female copies locked together inside several months before.

      "Ranma, stop being an idiot. This isn't your mirror copy, this is my mother."

      The pigtailed martial artist's brain locked trying to make sense of the apparent gibberish that Akane had just declared and so was in no position to interrupt as Akane made the other side of the introduction. "Mother, this is my fiancé, Ranma Saotome."

      Kimiko raised an eyebrow at Ranma, but smiled gently to her future son-in-law. "Pleased to meet you, Ranma-kun."

      "Akane's mom?" he asked incredulously.

      "Yes Ranma-kun, and I believe I have you to thank for my return?"

      With a cautious look, Ranma gave a quick bow, trying to work out if she was meant anything by that, i.e. was she coming onto him. Last thing he wanted right now was any more girl problems. One way to make sure, "So you're in love with Mr Tendo?"

      Nabiki had been quietly sitting back unmoving, deep in thought but this seemed to get her attention as she looked up awaiting the answer.

      The red haired young woman blushed as she smiled. "He is my husband."

      "Cool, ah, welcome back I guess." Visibly relaxing he moved to sit down but Akane beat him to it moving across and patting the seating pillow she had been using for him to sit there.

      Kimiko watched him for a moment, obviously to his discomfort, before she spoke again. "Do you normally react to new women by jumping behind your fiancée?"

      Akane giggled and Nabiki smirked as Ranma looked stricken for a moment before his confidence dominated his expression. "Nah, just when yet another woman falls in love with me I'm safer behind Akane, she's a bit of a bruiser when she's pissed and new girls turning up will set her off."

      The youngest Tendo's giggling stopped as she spun on her fiancé, "Ranma! You Jerk!"

      The sound of Akane's punches flying through the air filled the room as she tried to tag Ranma, but the target was far from co-operative. "See what I mean?" he asked Kimiko while dodging.

      “Sit down NOW!” Kimiko thundered so loudly the sliding doors rattled. The returned Tendo mother was far from impressed, and both heirs to the Anything Goes Martial Arts School found their seats in damn quick order. Their faces showed far more obviously the surprise that Kimiko had lashed out so and even Nabiki's face showed her shock as Kimiko stood angrily.

      "I realise that I have not been around to raise you my daughter but I am back and there will be no more fighting from or with anyone inside this house. Do I make myself clear?"

      One head of short blue hair and one of dark with a pigtail both nodded.

      Pale at the sudden commandment from her only hours returned mother, Akane could only get paler as the red head got into a rhythm, one unfortunately for Ranma, was targeted at him, "Ranma-kun, you are not my child but you are a guest of my family and as such you will not swear under this roof. As it is an honourable man would never swear in front of his fiancé."

      Akane felt more than saw Ranma's flinch, and something welled in her enough to take action. "Wait Mother! Ranma is... Ranma was raised alone with his father on the road. Aunty and I have been trying to improve his manners since they were reunited, but..."

      The shogi to the yard opened with a swish, and Genma strode into the room purposefully. Ranma noticed Soun's dark gi clad arm reaching for the elder Saotome’s arm, trying to stop him before vanishing. Obviously Tendo was avoiding someone in the room.

      "Now wait just a minute," Genma said pushing his glasses back on his nose, reflecting light hiding his eyes. "This is exactly the type of thing I took my son away from ten years ago. The boy can defeat an opponent with just words long before a fight starts and I will not have you destroy his training like this."

      Akane jumped up, looking incredulously at Genma, "You've trained Ranma to be a jerk like this to win a few fights?!" she accused.

      The boy in question tuned out as Genma began explaining his brilliant and successful plan, his eyes on the doorway where Kasumi and Nodoka were looking in, attracted by all the commotion. Ranma didn't like the look of shame on his mother's face one bit.

      "How many times has the boy's or even your life been saved by his skill and training, skill that I have meticulously..." *Splash* "Growf?"

      "I apologise Mrs Tendo. I promise I won't ever swear or call others names in this house again." Ranma said in a subdued voice as he sat back down, head bowed, returning the now empty glass of water to the table.

      Kimiko didn't reply to Ranma, her face locked on Genma in amazement at the sudden transformation despite witnessing it earlier that day when her family and the elder Saotome's had been describing how she had come back in this new body, well to the best of their ability. Akane on the other hand was looking wide-eyed at her fiancée while Nabiki and the women in the doorway also showed levels of surprise.

      [Boy, don't throw your training away because your being brow beaten by a couple of weak girls.] Genma signed trying to salvage the situation, swinging the other side around, [Soun knows what is right and will put a stop to this as man of the house.]

      Unfortunately for Genma, the sign only elicited a low growl from Akane and an angry glare from Kimiko, Ranma having looked away after the first message. The Saotome Anything Goes technique of 'I'm not listening' was very effective against his father's signs.

      *Splash*

      Ranma looked up through dripping bangs of black hair with a murderous look at his father's panda face. The Panda's fanged jaws were barred in a rather vicious display that Ranma knew was his father's most smug Panda smile. He sprang to his feet like a blur, a stream of insults on his tongue ready to blurt out as his knuckles cracked, fists clenching to back the words up with a beating his father would never forget.

      His blurring form stopped suddenly for a moment, glancing helplessly at Kimiko, realising he was now trapped by his promise. His father wasn't under any constraint and swung at him with the sign, trying to keep him angry and make him fight.

      Ranma's blue eyes lit up suddenly and he moved, dodging the sign with a twist to step behind the blow, hands lashing out, one snagging the sign and ripping it from his father's grip the other shoving the Panda's forepaws onwards, adding to the momentum of the swing to let him get behind the black and white bear.

      A howl of pain came from Genma's animal throat as his son grabbed a handful of fur-covered skin and twisted it sharply and painfully.

      The women watched impressed as Ranma used the sign like a shovel under Genma's feet, combined with his grasp on his back to carry him outside and toss him into the yard. It could be argued it was fighting but most saw it as taking out the trash.

      Now outside the house, Ranma smiled evilly, free of the constraints of his word to Kimiko. Taking a stance, he held the sign ready to beat his father, "That's it old man, this 'weak girl' is gonna kick your..."

      The sign clattered to the grass, his voice trailing off when he noticed something. His voice... was male?

      Everyone watched as Ranma's head mechanically looked down at his body. A sick grin of disbelief coming to his face as he patted down his *flat* chest, his hands dropping quickly to make sure of other very important anatomical details were correct.

      The grin got wider as he idly kicked his father over the neighbours fence and ran back inside, grabbing another glass from the table and tipped it over his head, his hands once again roaming around his male body.

      Nabiki shook her head. "Looks like he just realised the significance of his cursed body sitting across from him could mean. Your fiancé isn't the brightest star in the sky, Akane."

      The hundred percent boy looked down at Nabiki sitting at the table, his eyes brightening in understanding to match his smile. His beaming face turned onto Akane over the table. "I'M CURED!!" he cried leaping the table to glomp onto her surprised form, lifting her and spinning around.

      Akane struggled in his sudden embrace, but was released quickly, Ranma's hands suddenly gripping each side of her face. Her eyes were wide as his face approached hers, but he paused with their lips a bare inch apart.

      She blinked, her mind refusing to do anything else at Ranma's actions, looking at his red face wondering if she should act. Before her mind could make the choice to close the distance, her soggy fiancé vanished, pushing passed her to embrace his mother at the door, spinning her around as well.

      The hug his mother got ended quickly as her son spied the bane of his life over her shoulder. The Tendo Pond, still intact despite some of the ring stones being destroyed in the blast earlier.

      "Heh... heh... heh... heh... heh..."

      All in the room watched nervously as Ranma moved slowly, his almost sick laugh cutting through them as me moved out the door into the yard.

      With a battle cry sprang forward and charged over the ground between him and his target to dive headfirst into the pool. He surfaced quickly, with a deep manly shout of joy.

      Kimiko looked around the stunned faces of those with her. "Could someone explain what that was about, or is he normally like that?"

      Noncommittal shrugs came from most as the women continued to watch Ranma splashing around in the cold pond, gargling the dirty water between shouts of happiness.

      "So how far off is dinner?" Nabiki asked.

*****

      With a feather light shuffle of her hands, Belldandy organized her notes. With a glance towards the other operators in the Goddess Relief Office, including her older sister Urd, for reassurance, she replaced her headset and dialled into the heaven network, extension zero zero zero zero one.

      Urd brushed several strands of her white blonde hair back with a tanned hand, swivelling in her chair to fully watch her sister. Apart from the power surge of the unauthorised wish it had been a slow work week, especially since Urd was off the phones and left to maintain the power grid supplying the enforcement programs on old contracts without drains from new wishes.

      "Hello Father," Belldandy's voice showed a tiny amount of nervousness that faded as he replied through the speaker of her headphones. "Yes Father, we have traced it to a fault in the human world. Urd and I managed to..."

      Urd tuned out the specifics, already knowing how she had shown Belldandy how to trace the surge to an unauthorised wish, in this case made in Tokyo, Japan. No staff from the Goddess Relief Office, Earth Assistance Office, or any other wish granting divisions were in Tokyo at the moment, so that left demon or random magic sources. Unfortunately a trace for any chaos abnormalities in the region had nearly hit the limit of the scanners, and the region of chaos seemed to centre on exactly the same spot as the wish site. The Tendo Dojo.

      Leaning forward, Urd showed her interest as her sisters report ended and she began to receive instructions from Kami-sama, replying often with 'Yes father', and 'I understand father'.

      Depressing the button to end the call, she hung her headset up and turned around. She smiled at the sight off all the other goddesses staring at her.

      "Well?" asked Urd impatiently.

      "I have to go down to this Dojo for two days and see if this was just random chaos flux that reached all the way to our system or if there is a demon on the loose again."

      Several of the goddesses sighed as the goddess stood and began to ready herself for the trip. Belldandy always got the luck, especially when it came to getting time in the human world. Some wondered if one day she was going to stay down there forever.

*****

      The closet under the stairs was not large but, as a martial artist, Soun Tendo had faced far more perilous opponents than a night on a hardwood floor in an area so small he couldn't stretch out in.

      He opened the door a crack again, making sure the house was dark and no movement was in the slight view of the hall it afforded him.

      Hiding like this wasn't cowardly, it was just a way of getting by till the craziness in his son-in-law's life settled and his girl form was just around when the boy was splashed, and certainly not knowing all those things only his dear departed wife would know.

      Meanwhile, in the master bedroom of the Tendo home, Kimiko angrily pushed her red hair back as she sat waiting for her husband to come to bed. This was the best time to talk to him now the children were asleep, but she had yet to see him since before dinner.

      After a brief talk confirming her true identity to her girls he had vanished.

      Her last memory before today had been him holding her in the hospital. She had felt so weak and needed him and he was there. She understood the shock he must be feeling, especially with how the girls said he took losing her, but it felt awful to be alone like this now.

      With a huff she stood in the oversized nightie Kasumi had gotten out for her and got into her old bed. Turning out the light she lay her head down. She could instantly smell him on the pillow still, and with a smile her mind wandered back to before they married.

      He had tried to drive her away then, wanting to protect her from that shrivelled old evil master. Well she hadn't let him go then and wasn't going to let him go now. This time she knew him even better than she had then, and with Happosai long dead, she had just had Akane when Soun and Genma buried him, this wouldn't even be tenth as hard.

      "I'm coming for you Soun-chan, and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer!" she said into the darkness, a dark smile on her face.

To be continued…

Special thanks to MwhaleK, Paul Henkel, Rosedreams, Jamison Whithehead, Wheedle1, tendoakane3, and Sakurabana for proof reading and plot inspiring.

Thank you for reading.

Trent O'Donoghue
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http://www.geocities.com/odonoghuet/index.html