One Straw

Chapter 5

Disclaimer:- Is there an echo in here? I could swear I heard someone say they didn't own the characters, over and over and over. Damn, damn, damn. Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, up up up. You're an idiot, yes you are, no I'm not, yes you……

A/N just a little lime, not a lot. This took so long to write because when I got half way through I thought up another way the story could go. Both ideas are good and end up with Kasumi/Ranma but the second one was a fair bit darker. I was trying to decide which one I'd do when the time came, but then scrapped taht decision with the thought I'd do both of them. Look for chapter six to have two versions, Muwhahahahahaha!! Though I will release it as a seperate story starting at chapter 6 rather than repost the first five chapters again since they're identical stories up till that point.

Reviews (a poem)

Sometimes I pound keys night and day,

Other-times I pause to work or play,

But when I finally release what I wrote,

Sometimes it's nice to receive a thank-you note.

(Or criticism, flames, it's all grist for the mill.)

/ Tendo Dojo \

/ Seven or eight months ago \

Nabiki blinked and slowly closed the bathroom door. Since Ranma had left so early in the day she'd been able to wrap up her business early and come on home. She'd decided that since her last lesson of the day had been P.E. she'd come home and have a bath, and maybe a soak before her baby sister returned from her workout. Only the bathroom seemed to be already occupied.

Nabiki had managed to walk in on Ranma on two prior occasions and both times she'd made the observation that he was definitely eye candy, this time had been no different. She could add another tidbit to her growing knowledge of the teen as well. He was incredibly well 'hung', she knew that because he'd grasped Kasumi by the waist and lifted her up, and up, and….

Her brain short-circuited as she ran the thought through her mind again, something hadn't computed the first time, Ranma, naked? Check. Bathroom stool, check. Well hung? Check!!! Naked Kasumi impaled on….Nabiki grabbed the bridge of her nose to staunch the sudden nose bleed while her brain threw up a failure to compute message.

'What the hell?' Not wanting to be caught by her older sister spying on her, nor for Ranma to catch her for that matter she started for the outer door wearing only her bathrobe, she'd get dressed upstairs and have a bath when it wasn't quite so occupied. She needed to think about this and decide what to do before she did something rash, like rushing in and belting the pervert over the head with a blunt instrument, mentioning no names.

Reaching for the door handle she was surprised to watch it turn and slide open, revealing Akane on the far side. 'Oh this could be bad,' she thought as a little of the colour left her face.

"Hi Nabiki, did you decide to have an early bath as well?" Akane grinned being in an unusually sunny mood since she hadn't had to deal with her so called fiancé for most of the day.

"Uh, yeah, I did. But the bath is occupied at the moment. You wouldn't want to walk in on Ranma again would you?" She noted the scowl that formed on her little sisters face at the mere mention of Ranma's name, seems she'd done the right thing by inviting all the usual crazies to the wedding if Akane could still look like that after two days, even if Nabiki had done it for all the wrong reasons.

"Hah! As if I'd wanna see anything that idiot has!" Nabiki looked at her sister askance, if what she'd seen was any indication then she really had to question where Akane's preferences lay just like a lot of other people at school had been doing for a while now.

"Yeah, right. Let's go and get a snack." Nabiki moved to take her sisters arm and lead her from the room but missed as Akane shrugged her off.

The youngest Tendo walked past her and over to the inner door of the bathroom and pounded on the glass pane. "You better hurry up in there Ranma. I want a bath. You hear me?" She listened to hear any reply and after a second she heard the rhythmic sound of flesh striking flesh, repeatedly, there were other sounds as well but they were harder to understand. At least until one of them turned into a moan, a woman's moan.

"Come on Akane." Nabiki gripped her sisters wrist and attempted to drag her younger sister away only to find that Akane refused to budge.

The sounds on the other side of the door got louder for a moment and then she heard Kasumi's voice.

"Ah, yes, Ranma! Oh Kami, yes!" Then she screamed which was all the impetus that Akane's stunned mind needed as she slammed the door open, shattering the woodwork. The sight that greeted her was out of her darkest nightmares. That bastard had dragged her sister in here and was doing unspeakable things to her against her will. As usual she'd totally missed the fact that Kasumi was holding onto Ranma for dear life and didn't look like she was planning to let go anytime soon.

"RRRRAAAAANNMMMAAAAA!" Akane's aura ignited so fast it singed the ceiling tiles as she brought her mallet to bear on the pervert, ignoring the fact that if she hit him she'd have to go through Kasumi first who happened to be the closest of the pair to her.

Nabiki wasn't fast enough to interrupt her sister, and wasn't even game to try as there was too much power involved in the swing. She'd end up as the third casualty if she tried.

Ranma on the other hand had no qualms about protecting Kasumi, swiveled around on the bath stool till his back was presented to Akane, who adjusted her strike to track the pig-tailed martial artist. The force of the blow was monumental as she drove him through the stool he was sitting on and into the tiled floor beneath. Kasumi found herself suspended over empty space before plunging downwards and gasping at the sensation of being filled suddenly again, a sensation that was rapidly becoming addictive. Before she figured out what had happened and tried to cover as much of Ranma as she could.

Akane had spent much of her ire on the first swing but found that her sister was straddling the bastard and seemed to be trying to protect him from her follow up. Which didn't make her happy since she still fully intended to pound the animal through the tile and concrete floor as many times as it took to put him six feet under.

"Get away from him Kasumi, now's your chance while he's stunned!"

"No! I'm not moving, you're not going to hit him again." Kasumi looked up at her youngest sister defiantly, and for a moment the belligerent look on Kasumi's face seemed to reach the youngest Tendo. Then the moment passed as Akane shook her head to dispel the effects of her sister's potent gaze.

"You're not going to protect him Kasumi. He deserves to be pounded for what he's done to you."

"Akane stop before you make a bigger fool of yourself than you already have." Nabiki yelled frantically, she'd heard of delusional but it looked like they might have to put a picture of her sister alongside the one of Kuno in the dictionary entry for the word.

"But Nabiki she's suffering from that Stuttgart Syndrome thingy we learned about in class." Nabiki blinked for a second as she tried to comprehend what had just been said.

"Stuttgart? I think you mean Stockholm don't you?"

"Stockholm, Stuttgart? What's the difference? Whichever one it is she's got it."

"No I don't." By this time Kasumi was standing facing her two sisters with a towel wrapped loosely around her body. She'd interposed herself between Akane and the man she….she wasn't sure what she felt for him yet but she was definitely going to take the time to figure it out after this was all over.

"You don't know what you're talking about Kasumi. Now get out of the way so I can pound him like he deserves." Akane lunged forward and grabbed Kasumi by the arm and pulled her out of the way. Kasumi was sent stumbling towards the wall unable to control her stagger as she approached the wall head first. Akane for her part had already turned away and so didn't see what was happening, she had a clear shot at Ranma and she was going to take it, when he simply disappeared.

Nabiki knew things were going to go down hill rapidly as soon as her sister found out about Kasumi and Ranma in the bathroom, with the bath stool, but she had no idea how bad things would get. When Akane pulled Kasumi out of her way she was already moving to intercept, but a sleek naked man in the form of Ranma got there first and stopped Kasumi from being injured as he absorbed the impact with his body. Nabiki let out a gasp of surprise, she'd known that Ranma was fast, but that fast?

Akane swung around as she heard Nabiki gasp and spotted her quarry holding her sister yet again.

"Don't you ever learn Ranma?" She yelled as she prepared to attack again.

"Yeah! I gotta admit I made a mistake. The mistake of actually letting you hit me with that useless piece of wood." Ranma set Kasumi to one side as he confronted the woman he was supposed to marry, as if that was ever going to happen now, or ever for that matter. Silly bitch with her, 'I'll protect you Kasumi, even if it kills you!' attitude.

"I'll show you useless you bastard!" The overhead swing came down with crushing force on the space occupied by Ranma's head, she watched in satisfaction as he buckled under the pressure, just like every time before. Ranma for his part hardly felt the blow as he allowed it to push him out of the way rather than try to resist it like he normally would. He slid aside into a crouching position and looked up at the stunned expression on Akane's face.

"That's your free shot Akane, anything else and you're gonna pay for it." If Akane had been listening to the snarl in his voice she probably would have….nope not even the edge in his voice could have stalled her this time.

Nabiki who had heard the same snarl had been running high speed probabilities in her head when she suddenly twigged to something she'd been missing since it had been so subtle up to this point. "Akane stop this now before you go too far!" But the effort was wasted as a frustrated Akane swung her mallet again and gaped in shock as her target stepped into a place she couldn't adjust her aim to hit as the hammer traveled through empty space she found herself holding the object of her ire close in her arms. The cocky evil smirk should have been a warning in and of itself but she didn't have time as he lowered his head ramming his forehead into hers with a resounding crack.

Ranma had gauged the strength of his blow to do maximum damage without doing permanent damage, he just wanted to teach her a lesson not kill her. The skin on her forehead split and began to pour blood even as his follow through hit the bridge of her nose and broke it spreading it across her face, not literally of course but it was gonna hurt like the dickens when she regained consciousness. As she slipped into darkness Akane could feel the handle of her mallet slip through nerveless fingers, even heard it strike the floor as she staggered backwards and away from her attacker, she never saw the blow that struck her in the ribs and lifted her off her feet breaking five of them, or the axe-kick that picked her out of the air separating her shoulder.

Ranma could see all the damage he was inflicting on his ex-fiancée but couldn't stop himself as the pressure of repressing his anger over the last year came boiling to the forefront tingeing his sight with red. He wanted to expunge the pain and anger he'd felt at the abuse he'd suffered. Even as he screamed denial in his head another part of him screamed in primal fury wanting to tear and rend, and he almost gave in before Kasumi reversed her earlier role and came to her sisters' rescue interposing her body between the blue-black haired teen and Ranma as he sought to continue punishing Akane.

"No Ranma! That's enough!" Ranma stumbled at the force of her words, he'd never heard her speak like that before and then her heard her next words, "Go! Get out of here. You've done enough damage!"

"K-Kasumi?"

"Get out! You – you – Get out!" Kasumi left her sisters side and was pounding on his chest with her petite fists. Looking around he could see no support from Nabiki and then he looked down at what he'd done to Akane and cringed, no one was supposed to get hurt, not like this. Damn it, I'm losing it, I lost control, got to get out of here before I go off the deep end. As he bolted from the bathroom the last thing he heard was Kasumi instructing a shell-shocked Nabiki to call an ambulance.

Nodoka was heading up the stairs when a black and red blur shot past her.

"Ranma?" she yelled as she attempted to track him visually, but by time she'd turned around he was already gone.

/ Later that night \

Ranma slunk back into the Tendo compound around seven 'o'clock. Night had fallen on the quiet suburb of Nerima an hour before and the deep shadows allowed him to move stealthily around the old house. He'd already verified that the father's hadn't come back from wherever they'd spent the day. In fact the only people he knew for sure were in the house were the two eldest Tendo's, he assumed that they'd been sent home from the hospital as they were in the way or something or at least that was always Genma's excuse of why he wasn't around the few times he'd put Ranma in the hospital on their training trip.

He wasn't sure why he'd returned, he knew from the way she spoke that he'd burned his bridges this time. Kasumi, he'd never seen her upset like that before, and to tell the truth that upset him more than anything else, that he was the one responsible for her breaking down like that.

The only reason he'd come back was to take back his clothes and paltry belongings. It was so very little to show for the year he'd been here, but still much more than he'd ever had on the road.

Keeping to the shadows he headed for the guest rooms window, it was always kept open just a little to allow the various martial artists in the area access. 'Plus it beat the hell out of repairing walls all the time,' he smirked in remembrance of the fall out the last time the Amazons had come through a wall. A small flexion of his knees and Ranma was airborne in a maneuver he'd performed hundreds of times before, his fingers catching the edge of the roof while the sole of his foot slid the window across with more care than normal, a shove and he was perched on the windowsill.

The house was pretty quiet as he pulled his back-pack towards the window, things had been so crazy lately that it was still packed from the trip to China.

Ranma went still when her heard something, a voice coming from the open door. He could hear Nabiki as she comforted someone, someone who was crying. It took a moment to realize that it was Kasumi and at that point his shame increased tenfold, he'd really hurt her. He'd used her body against her will and then nearly killed her sister when she'd objected. He heard a murmur and then a sobbed reply and wondered what they were talking about. Like a wraith he moved across the room to the open door and slid through the gap into the brightly lit hallway where he could see that Nabiki hadn't closed her door properly. Following the sounds of their voices he slid along the wall using a stealth technique his father had taught him, of course it worked best if you were wearing clothes that kind of blended into the environment. His white gi would have been perfect for this hallway but he hadn't thought of that and was currently in his preferred dress of a red shirt and black pants so stood out like a beacon. Sliding along the wall he scuffed the heel of a shoe against the skirting board and froze. That sound would have alerted any of his 'friends' if they were around, Nabiki and Kasumi were probably safe though.

The room had suddenly gone quiet, and his breath stilled even as he leapt above the door bracing his hands and feet against opposite sides of the hall. The rustle of cloth confirmed his guess that Nabiki's senses were sharper than he'd at first thought, 'Must be all that spying she does.' Her head appeared in the open doorway and she looked both ways down the hall as if to ascertain if anyone was home.

/ Nabiki \

Nabiki looked up and down the hall, she could have sworn she heard something. Maybe the fathers had returned. If they had that would curtail her questioning her sister, for a while at least. Some of the more pertinent questions at the moment of course were 'What the hell possessed you?' and 'What about Tofu-sensei?'

Taking one last look she decided that if the fathers were home there'd be much more noise as both of them had gone for a social drink, which in normal parlance meant that they'd be falling down drunk and/or singing when they came home. Sighing in relief she straightened up and for just a moment caught sight of something interesting before retreating back into the room. As she did so she closed the door but a moment later it clicked back ajar as if she hadn't closed it properly.

Ranma sighed in relief as he dropped silently down to the floor again.

"What was that about Nabiki?" Kasumi looked up at her younger sister expectantly.

"Oh, it was nothing," she ignored the light thud as Ranma landed right outside the door, in a way he probably needed to hear the answer to her questions even more than she did, "I just thought I heard Father returning home."

"Oh," Kasumi sighed in relief as she felt a short lived reprieve from the oncoming interrogation.

"But it wasn't them. Now, I have some questions, and I want answers."

"I really don't want to talk about it right now Nabiki."

"Tough! You either talk to me or talk to Father."

"You wouldn't!"

"You know me better than that Kasumi, now start talking." Nabiki maintained her cool exterior as she eyed the older girl dispassionately.

"Alright! Just don't tell Father, I don't think he could take it," Kasumi paused to collect her thoughts, "Well you know what it was like after Mother died?"

"Yes, I was there remember?"

"Father wasn't any use, and Mother asked me to take care of you and Akane, so I did what I thought I needed to do. For six years I looked after you all, and the house. Over the years Father came back to us, but he was never the same, so I continued as I had been. My schooling suffered…."

"Oh, pull the other one Kasumi. I checked your results and I'm only just beating you."

"Hmm, but I was only doing minimal work, the teachers weren't impressed with, 'I'm sorry but I had to cook dinner and do the laundry.' When I handed assignments in late."

"Why didn't you say anything? I would have helped. Don't look at me like that, I'm not as bad as Akane, I could have done something."

"No, I couldn't allow it to affect you, it was my job."

"Bull! If it was anyone's job it was Dads."

"But…"

"I don't care. It's time we stopped making excuses for him, he's turned into a weak sniveling shadow."

"That's a little harsh isn't it Nabiki. He still mourns her you know?"

"Of course I know, but when do we get to mourn her Kasumi? When's it our turn to cry?"

"I don't know, I honestly don't know…" Silence hung over the room so intensely that the eavesdropper outside the door could sense the tension that wrung through the Tendo sisters.

"Alright, I knew all this. Let's cut to the chase shall we. Why Ranma? Why not Tofu-sensei?"

"You know when I met Ono Tofu?"

"Yep, I remember. You were all motherly fussing when you took Akane to the doctors. And when you returned you were a giggly blushing teenager on a sugar high." She had the satisfaction of watching her sister turn a bright shade of red.

"I did not!"

"Did too!" Nabiki stuck her tongue out.

"Did not!" Nabiki's eyes widened as she saw the pillow coming, her attempt to duck was only partially successful as the pillow clipped the top of her head. Her hands quested for something to return fire and finally picked something up. She watched as Kasumi's eyes widened slightly and looked down to find one of her sisters childhood dolls grasped in her fist. Noticing a motion out of the corner of her eye she thrust the doll out slightly and said.

"Ah-ah aaah, put the pillow down nice and slow or the doll gets it." Both sisters fought to maintain eye contact but finally gave into the giggles that were threatening to burst through. It took a couple of minutes for them both to subside without setting the other off again.

"I haven't laughed like that in a while."

"Yeah, I noticed. So after you started acting like a school girl with her first crush what happened next."

"I'll have you know, I 'was' a school girl with my first crush. It was unrequited of course but I wasn't prepared to accept that. So I admired him from afar, and tried to get close to him whenever I could."

"Oh, I feel so cheap! My own sister used me to get close to a boy!" Nabiki draped her arm over her forehead in mock distress.

"Oh, quiet you. As if you don't use anything in your power to get what you want."

"True, but we're talking about you, not me. So spill."

"I watched him all the time that I could, never really hoping that he'd ever notice me in return. Then when I hit seventeen he noticed me for the first time, or probably allowed himself to acknowledge that I had feelings for him."

"That's still a little creepy you know. He's so much older than you."

"He's not that much older than me, only ten years. Now Charlie Chaplin was creepy."

"What the hell has that to do with anything, that was the guy who did silent movies isn't it?"

"That's him. What it has to do with creepy is he was eighty when he married a younger woman."

"What's creepy about that?"

"She was sixteen, or maybe a little younger. She had a boy by him."

"Eeeeeew!!! You're right that's just plain disgusting. Alright I concede Tofu-sensei isn't that much older than you. So you spent the next two years waltzing around each other, and him waltzing around with Betty-chan." Nabiki shared a little giggle with Kasumi at the mental image that engendered.

"Well yes, but I didn't want to. I made it plain to him that if he asked….That I wanted…"

"Huh? You did? So what's with this with Ranma today?" She watched fascinated as her elder sisters skin flushed at the mere mention of Ranma

"Hold on, you need to have all the information before it makes sense."

"Okay, but I'd like to get this sorted before Genma-san and Father return from the bar."

"Oh right. Well you remember when Ranma first came?" Kasumi made to hurry on with her explanations.

"Uh-huh, as if I could forget that. He turned the logical world I'd known up till that point on its head, plus he was the first magical girl I ever saw."

"Nabiki!"

"What? Well he was," Nabiki smirked at the partially open door, "so is there a point to that question or are you just trying to distract me again?"

"Well I have to admit that I didn't want to marry him at that time, but then again neither of you seemed interested in him either." Nabiki winced slightly since she knew something her sister didn't.

"Hey, that isn't quite true you know. I was a little interested at first, but you're right mostly. I never had any intention of marrying until I had a secure financial footing. One thing Father has taught me is that a family is a great responsibility both emotionally and financially. Akane wasn't mature enough to get married either, she was having those problems at school. Definite trust issues if I ever saw them. Then there's you, you didn't think someone younger than you would be interesting or mature enough."

Kasumi blushed as Nabiki recalled her own words for her, "Well that's not quite true you know."

"You certainly passed the buck fast enough sister mine."

"It wasn't for the reasons I stated though. I'd been waiting for Tofu-sensei for four years to get over whatever his problem was, and then comes along this boy who I'm suddenly told is my fiancé. I panicked and did the first thing that came to mind."

"Now you're being honest? Why did you panic?"

"Maybe panic is the wrong word, I used to think Tofu-sensei was all I ever wanted…."

"I'm sensing a, 'but' in there."

"But then I saw Ranma for the first time. I'd waited so long for my first love and here was a man who…."

"Oh Kami, just spill would you? This is like pulling nails out of wood with your bare fingers."

"I felt something for him."

"Who Tofu, I thought we'd already covered that?"

"Not Tofu, Ranma. I looked at him and I felt something, and it scared me."

"Oh come on, then why'd you pass up an opportunity to get to know him?"

"Because of Tofu-sensei."

"You keep calling him that sis, why?"

"I'm getting there Nabiki, patience was never one of your strong points was it."

"Yes it was. Alright, sometimes I want answers and I want them now but I can wait if I have to. You know that."

"Sure you can," Kasumi said sarcastically, "Ranma scared me, not because he changed, but because what I felt when I saw him for the first time dwarfed everything I'd ever felt for Tofu…san."

"You were attracted to him?"

"Oh come off it, I'm a girl, and I know I still have a pulse. Of course I was attracted, what's not to be attracted to? He was a good looking man with an incredible physique. Who wouldn't be interested?"

"Well Akane for one."

"Don't kid yourself Nabiki, she was interested alright. The problem was she couldn't get past her mistrust of men to actually do something about it. Me? I wasn't ready to give up on Doctor Tofu, not yet anyway….." Kasumi trailed off as the pain she'd suppressed so far came back, it wasn't anywhere near as devastating as she expected and wondered to herself what that meant.

"You weren't ready to give up…yet? You said yet."

"Hmmm….? Oh that, well you'll remember that Tofu-sensei left about a year ago?"

"Yeah. The replacement doctor's not anywhere near as good. That was a really shoddy thing he did leaving without letting you know where he was going."

"Well it's not quite true that he left without telling me what was happening. He sent me a letter that told me he needed some space so he could get control of whatever was wrong with him. He said we could never have a proper relationship while he couldn't even hear my name mentioned and retain his sanity."

"So he told you where he was going? You dark horse you!"

"No, he wouldn't tell me where he was going. He just left. I should have known then that it was over, but I'd been waiting for so long that to give up would mean I'd wasted all that time."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up a second. What do you mean by 'You should have known it was over.'?"

"I thought you were the smart one Nabiki. 'I just need some space.' Or 'Let's take a break.' Do they sound familiar?"

"You've got a point, that's just what he was doing wasn't it?"

"I don't really know, but about a week before you and the others returned from China I received an apologetic call from a lady."

"Alright where does that slot into the story?"

"She was Tofu's wife. They'd been married for six months when she called. She said that she believed her husband had called me and let me know."

"That coward! No wonder you've been acting so strange since we came back."

"I honestly didn't think anyone had noticed."

"I happen to know for a fact that Ranma did."

"He did?"

"Hm, I noticed him looking at his food strangely a few times since we've been back and then he looks at you with a worried frown. I didn't notice it myself until Ranma did, but there was something missing that I couldn't put my finger on."

"He noticed?" Kasumi asked hopefully.

"Of course he did, it had to do with food didn't it?" Nabiki snickered before she wiped at a tendril of sweat that ran down her forehead. The forlorn look on Kasumi's face lightened for a moment before she frowned slightly.

"Nabiki? Is it getting warmer in here or am I imagining things?" That was when it clicked for the middle Tendo and she flicked a glance at the door to see an eerie orange glow seeping from the landing.

"Uh, no! Not at all Kasumi, you must be imagining it. Though, I, sure, am, 'angry' right, now. I wish, I 'knew', the soul, of ice, that Ranma, learned." The change was almost instantaneous as the fiery aura outside the door turned to something else and for an instant she could almost see her breath on the air until Ranma found his balance again.

/ Ranma \

Ranma had been listening in fascination for a while. He was hoping to figure out what had possessed Kasumi of all people to jump him like that. So far it'd been really eye opening, and it'd been really interesting to find out that all three of the Tendo daughters had been interested in him and the reasons why they passed him off or fought the engagement so strongly.

Kasumi's frank admission that she found him attractive had him blushing, and the confession from Nabiki that she liked him too had almost floored him since the 'Ice Queen' could be pretty viscous in her money making schemes.

The thought that Akane liked him was really nothing new, he'd known that she did, pretty much from the start since auras didn't lie well not unless you were a really accomplished ki adept, which she wasn't. The problem was that he'd known her for long enough, and more importantly she'd known him long enough to know that he wasn't like the idiots at school and would never hurt her like that. Of course all of that became moot when he dropped the beat down of the decade on her in the bathroom earlier. He cringed when he thought about that, he knew better but he just couldn't control the rage that had built up in him at the time.

'Huh?' Ranma stopped his internal monologue and listened to the conversation going on inside the room when he heard Kasumi's next words.

"….."

"She was Tofu's wife. They'd been married for six months when she called. She said that she believed her husband had called me and let me know." Ranma gave the door a hard look; he had to have misheard that. No way could Doc Tofu do something like that. But…..Kasumi……She wouldn't, couldn't lie about anything as serious as that.

Thinking back Ranma couldn't remember anything that Doc had said that gave away his marital status. There'd been an indiscernible difference in the man but he'd only seen him four times in the last five months, just when things got too much for him to handle. Since the man was an accomplished martial artist fully capable of hiding himself from another's senses Ranma hadn't been able to figure out what was different. 'But married? He could have….no damn that, he should have told me! Screw that, he should have told Kasumi!!'

It didn't take long for Ranma to hit the roof figuratively speaking, 'That bastard hurt Kasumi!!'

A year ago Genma would have told anyone that the 'boy' had perfect control of his anger and that anything he showed to an opponent was exactly that, a show. If he could see his son now thought there'd be no way that he could say such a thing without it being known for a bald faced lie. Ranma's thoughts ran in tight little circles of 'could'a, should'a, would'a done' if only he'd guessed. He was so bound up in the emotional loop caused between his anger and Kasumi's sense of betrayal that he nearly missed Nabiki's exaggerated statement about being angry and wishing she knew the 'Soul of Ice'. Trying to figure out what she was talking about only took a moment as he found the paint on the door in front of him had started to bubble while the varnish on the wood floor at his feet was actually smoking.

"Oops!" he whispered vehemently. A moment later he clamped down so hard with the aforementioned 'Soul of Ice' technique that frost began to form around him. Pulling back emotionally he quickly found a balance before doing anything else that might cause damage to the hallway. Another thing he'd figured out was that somehow Nabiki knew he was out here, not that he should be surprised after all the time he'd known her.

/ Kasumi's room \

Nabiki smirked as Ranma regained control of his emotions. She'd figure out what it meant later, for now she had answers to get.

"So what, you're saying is you decided to jump Ranma on the rebound?"

"No!" Kasumi exclaimed, then thought about it, "I don't know….maybe….but I…" she trailed off at the speculative gleam in her sisters eye.

"So, just anyone would have done?"

"No!" This time Kasumi glared at the middle Tendo, "It wasn't like that!"

"Well explain it to me then, cause it sure seems like it to me." Her curiosity was truly piqued, so was Ranma's if she were any judge. She could almost feel him straining to hear her sisters explanation.

"I've been waiting for so long, all my life I suppose. I waited for things to get better, I waited for Akane to grow up and for you to do more with your abilities to organize. For father to stop mourning mother and begin teaching again. So many things I've waited for Nabiki. The one thing I was sure I wouldn't have to wait much longer for was Tofu-sensei. I refused to go on dates with other boys, in fact I've rarely gone out at all except for the shopping," Nabiki felt a slight twinge of guilt as she remembered all the times she'd slunk out of the house with a cheery wave and not even a thought about the chores she'd left for her sister to do, "Then I received that call, I felt…I felt so much. I hurt, for the first time I felt so much pain. It hurt nearly as much as when mother died. It made me much angrier though," Kasumi frowned as she remembered .

"Huh? You were angry at mom?"

"Yes. She left us and I was angry, even though I 'knew' it wasn't her fault. Tofu doesn't have that excuse though, eh knew I was waiting for him…" she attempted to scrub the tears from her eyes, "he could have told me himself." The tears rolled down her cheeks in an almost continuous stream now and her shoulders shook as she fought to contain the emotions she'd held in check for more than half her life.

"Oh sis, I had no idea," Nabiki reached over and engulfed her big sister in a hug, for the first time the comforting embrace was on the other person and she wouldn't let her down, "Just let it all out."

"He's gone…I had one chance….and now he's gone."

"Don't you worry about Tofu-baka, he's not worthy…."

"Not him, Ranma…." Kasumi couldn't continue as her emotions washed over her once again. The two sisters would be there for a long time that night, unfortunately Ranma was gone.

/ Ranma \

Ranma knocked on the door, the sound of his pounding fist echoed around the neighbourhood. Off in the distance a dog barked for a moment before its owner silenced it. Ranma waited impatiently for the door to be opened. He didn't relax when a light came on downstairs, in fact he tensed up even further. The door opened in front of him revealing the person he'd come to see.

"Hold on, where's the emerg….Ranma? Do you know what time it is?" Dr Tofu took a step back as he noted the look in the young mans eyes. Dropping his bag he took a second step and waited for something. It wasn't long before he got what he wanted.

The first strike, turned out to be a feint, as were the second, third and fourth. The fifth was blocked squarely, but the doctor didn't see the front snap kick coming it was that fast, he did however note the burgeoning pain in his chest, and the fact that Ranma wasn't finished. He'd always known the boy was good, but this was the first time he was really seeing him fight. He thrust an arm out to delay Ranma's next attack only to have it held and used against him. Ranma pulled the larger man off balance then flipped him into one of the external walls.

Tofu Ono's eyes widened as he scrambled out of the way of a descending heel kick. Regaining his feet he tried to solidify his defenses only to have the youth bypass them as if they didn't exist. His shoulder caught the older man in the diaphragm and lifted him off his feet. A moment later he slammed into another wall, with a rumble the wall gave tumbling them into the examination room beyond and he found himself looking up into the cold eyes of Ranma.

The pig-tailed boys eyes flickered for a moment as they noticed the approach of a woman he hadn't seen before. She was petite, and rather pretty, her eyes however were wide and her skin too pale as she ran towards him. Looking down he noticed for the first time the blood seeping from numerous cuts and scrapes on his one time friend.

"Please! Don't hurt him…."

"We're finished," Ranma said flatly. "You could have told me about her Tofu." His chin indicated the woman who'd entered the room and was hovering a few feet away.

"I thought you kn…." Ranma cut off his words when he slammed his fist into the floor beside his head. The concrete powdered under the force and he breathed in the fine dust causing him to cough, an action he regretted as it reminded him of his ribs.

"Don't lie to me….You know me better than that." Tofu Ono blinked, he hadn't expected Ranma to be so honest about his short-comings. "Failing telling me, I know for a fact you should have told Kasumi." The growl was back in his voice as he glared down at the doctor.

"I know, I….I didn't think she'd wait for me."

"Bullshit! She waited five years for you, what made you think anything had changed?"

"I thought you'd understand, my mother arranged our marriage without telling me." Ranma paused for a moment to take in the words he'd just heard.

"Okay, I'll give ya that doc. Care to explain why you left Kasumi hanging? When I left the Tendo's she was crying her heart out. Just a few words and she'd have been able to close that part of her life. Instead she feels worthless, and it's your fault."

"It's not like you have room to talk Ranma. You're the one with multiple fiancées."

"Yeah, the difference is I didn't arrange them. I never lead them on giving them hope when there was none. Everything about my situation happened to me, not because of me. I've tried everything I can think of to get out of the situation, even talked to specialists. Not even they could help. The only option they offered was to sit in the middle until one or more parties gave up. You ain't got no excuses like that, you should have told her."

"But….I…."

"You should have told her!" Ranma growled, for a moment his ki flashed red.

"You're…."

"You know that no matter what you say this isn't over don't you? Nabiki ain't gonna let this go that easy. You hurt her sister, you can bet she's gonna make someone pay." He watched in satisfaction as the man he'd come to respect in the time he'd spent in Nerima blanched at the realization of just how deep, deep was.

"What….?"

"I hear Australia's nice, then again even that might not be far enough. Here you're gonna need this." Ranma took the wad of yen bills the doctor had given him and threw them on his chest as he rose to his feet. "As for me, well I'm gonna earn my own way. I couldn't take money from someone I don't respect."

Atsuko Ono knelt next to her husband checking his cuts and bruises as he watched the young man he respected above all others in areas of the art walk away for the last time. "Kami, what have I done?"

"It'll be alright husband, we'll get through this somehow."

/ LAX interview room 6 \

/ Present time \

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'd please take a seat at one of the empty desks we'll get started."

The group of men and women shuffled into the seats as they'd been asked and looked up expectantly at the man in uniform at the front of the room.

"Thankyou, now if you'd open the folder in front of you and extract the topmost document please. Read it and sign each clause and sub-clause. If you find you don't or can't agree to anything on that document then you may depart this room without repercussion. Please begin." For the next half an hour all that was heard was the rustling of paper and the occasional scratch of pen on paper. When the last person looked up waiting expectantly for him to continue an adjutant walked around the room collecting the papers and checking that everything was in order.

Andrew Simons looked on at the thirty or so people in his briefing room and sighed, he'd been told he'd need to find a competent psychiatrist, and god knows he'd been trying. This was the second group he'd interviewed and to be honest he was getting frustrated, the pay for the job was more than excellent, there were even benefits that went beyond having the gratitude of their government, and yet there were still no takers.

The adjutant looked up at Andrew and nodded that everyone had signed and they were good to go.

"Now that the formalities are completed, I'd like to thank you for coming. My name is Agent Simons, but you can call me Agent Simons." He smiled around the room to let them know he was joking, well mostly. "You're probably wondering why you've been called here today? Well we'll get to that in a moment. Firstly I'd like to mention that your names were pulled up in a list of the top one hundred practitioners in your field, this is the second group to be brought in here. This in no way reflects on your ability as the list was collated alphabetically and not in any order of who we thought was a better psychiatrist."

"You Ladies and Gentlemen are the second group of thirty as I said to be brought here, and if one of you doesn't volunteer for this assignment we'll bring in the last forty. This assignment has top priority as it is cleared by the President himself. Anything you learn in this room is strictly confidential and as per section eighteen of the document you just signed punishable to the full extent of the law if you break that code of silence. Are we clear on this?"

Agent Simons looked around the room at the nodding heads and quietly murmured yeses from the people present. He also noted the frowns on several of the faces and took the time to mark them for later review.

"Good, now please open the folder again and remove the top-sheet. This young man is Ranma Saotome, the next photograph is also of Ranma Saotome. Before anyone asks, yes they are the same person. How? Well that we'll leave for later in this briefing. One thing I can assure you of is that I have seen both of these forms and know for a fact that I was not misled or tricked in any way." He stopped as he waited for the murmurs of disbelief to subside before continuing.

"Please save any and all questions until after you have received full disclosure. We are hoping to find one of you worthies capable of aiding in the treatment of this youth. Before anyone makes a decision, I am required to inform you that this case may be dangerous. If that fact influences your decision then I suggest you leave now." Watching in disappointment he noted that a couple of the people who'd frowned had gotten up and were leaving.

"Alright, this story goes back thirteen years, I'll only hit the high notes at this time. There is a much more detailed file prepared for the person who accepts the job. This all started…" Agent Simons spoke for the next half an hour, he neither paused nor deviated from the material he had to cover, not even when several members of the crowd gasped or cried out in dismay.

"As you can see the young man has been put through the nine circles of hell and for the most part he's come out sane. How I'll leave up to you professionals to figure out. There is a further problem and this is what we were referring to when we said this job may be dangerous. Ranma Saotome is believed to be suffering from Combat Fatigue." Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, some even stopped breathing as they realized just what he meant and how dangerous, dangerous really could be.

"Please come with me, we have one more thing to show you before we ask you to make a decision." He exited the room and waited for them to follow, the expression on his face resigned as the ten remaining people followed him out of the room. The knowledge that they'd have to call up the third group weighed heavily on his mind, and why they'd make a different decision to the first two groups was beyond him. "If you'll follow me please."

The corridor wasn't long and only had a few non-descript doors on either side, then they were led out into an office area that'd been cordoned off. The partitions that separated the cubicles had mostly been smashed flat by some force and there was quite a bit of rubble strewn around the room. All in all it looked like one of those post apocalyptic movies where the survivors traveled through an abandoned office building. The floor was waterlogged and most of the lights around the doorway ahead had been knocked out, not to mention the wall beneath them.

She paused as Agent Simons described the battle that had gone on here. How young Mr. Saotome had taken down an experienced SWAT team even though he was unarmed at the time. She noted that as the battle moved towards its conclusion that more and more of her colleagues had turned and walked away leaving only three people including herself to listen to the dramatic end.

The big man looked around, and she could see his disappointment as he surveyed the few people left, and even as he looked around one of those left.

"So any questions?" he looked between the two people that were left, which he had to admit was better than the first group who'd all been gone before he'd even gotten half way through the 'Battle of interview room one'

The young man looked at him and asked the burning question on his mind.

"Are you sure there won't be any repercussions if I leave?" while swallowing nervously, Agent Simons realized that the young man would have been gone a lot sooner if he had believed the reassurance he'd been given right at the start of the briefing.

"That's right, there won't be any consequences if you choose not to accept this job." The man didn't even wait till he'd finished speaking before leaving.

"Well John I suppose we'd better get the last group in. If one of them doesn't accept I don't know what we'll do."

"Ahem!" The sound of a throat being cleared spun Agent Simons around and he found himself looking at someone who decidedly wasn't a John.

"I'm sorry I didn't know there was anyone left. Can I help you?"

"Yes, you could answer a question for me."

"And what would that be?"

"What's in this for me? Other than recognition and the undying gratitude of my government that is? Neither of which put food on my table or a roof over my head if you catch my drift."

"Er, well that will only be covered if you're accepting the job as we don't wish that to be a concern in your decision making process."

"Bullshit. You forget my job is reading people. Just tell me already and save us a heap of hassle, or I could just walk like everyone else?" she raised an eyebrow in query.

"Alright I suppose it won't hurt, apart from the things you mentioned there was also a remuneration package of fifteen thousand dollars a week to a total of half a million. A bonus that doubles that amount for a verified complete cure and assistance to set up an office to your specification anywhere in the country with a budget set aside by the government that I won't divulge at this time. Can you think of anything else you'd like?" he added facetiously.

"Hmmm, how about a Mercedes Maclaren SLR?" her return sally was equally facetious as she thought she was being taken for a fool. Then she watched as he held a hand up to his ear and murmured something too low for her to hear.

"Uh-huh, okay. Yes sir, I'll let her know." Looking up he looked into her chocolate brown eyes and asked. "My boss wants to know if you have a preference for colour?"

"Huh?" Was the stunned answer as her mind refused to wrap around the fact she had been taken seriously when in truth she'd only heard her brother in law talking wistfully about the car the week before.

"The car, the choice is silver, red or black. So which would you prefer?"

"Er black?" By this stage she was sure someone was having a joke at her expense, her brother told her how much one of those cars was worth and she knew she could buy a house for that and have change leftover for furniture. His hand went back to his ear.

"It'll take a couple of days, but it'll be delivered to Edwards Air Force base about the same time we introduce you to Mr. Saotome. Are you interested?"

"To tell you the truth, the car was…." She trailed off as she thought about it for a second more and wondered, 'why not take it', "Yes, yes I am interested. Maybe you could explain though why you're willing to spend so much to have this done?"

"It's simple, Ranma Saotome is unstable, he's on American soil and he's close to one of the largest test facilities for experimental aircraft in the world. Even if he weren't in a position to cause potentially billions of dollars worth of damage to that facility, he wouldn't be safe anywhere else either. We want him made safe as soon as possible and are willing to pay for it. Does that clear it up for you?"

"Well yes, but still that's a lot of money."

"Not when you consider the risks to you personally. Of course if he does snap then you probably won't have time to worry about it."

"Oh thanks. Are you trying to frighten me off now?"

"No ma'am, simply making sure you understand just how serious this is. If you'd like to come with me?" He placed his hand under her elbow and ushered her from the room.

"By the way what's your name?"

"Ameline," he looked at her as if waiting for her to continue, "Ameline Potrescu."

"Pleased to meet you Mrs. Potrescu."

"Miss." She'd taken the time to notice a few things about the man who'd led the briefing, the fact that he was probably married to his career, either by personal choice or the fact that he hadn't been actively looking for a different relationship.

"I'm sorry?"

"It's Miss, I'm not married." Her Latina features lit up with mirth at the surprised expression on his face.

"Is that right, I'll have to remember that Miss Potrescu. Well now that we're properly acquainted how about I take you out for coffee?"

"Coffee? That sounds nice," she smiled as she noted the lack of a ring on the hand that held her elbow, "I hope it won't be too much trouble for you?"

"Oh none at all I assure you. I figure the sooner we get to know one another the better, for our future working relationship of course." He turned a roguish smile on her.

"Oh, of course. Just so you know, I'm on to you, Mr. Simons. You just want to get your hands on my…..Maclaren." Ameline decided to add his laugh to the plus side of the column along with his height, broad shoulders and rugged good looks. On the minus side was the fact that he was Anglo, papa wouldn't approve, but then again papa was always going on about prejudice and racism. She gave him another speculative look before turning her eyes back the way they were going. Coffee sounded really good at the moment, everything else could wait.

/ Ranma's place \

Ranma bolted upright in the narrow cot, the sweat ran down his face as he noted the heat and used the 'Soul of Ice' like an air-conditioner. Closing his eyes he tried to figure out what had disturbed him. Reaching out with his senses he found nothing until he reached about nine hundred metres, where he encountered two human sized ki sources. That was when he heard the crackle of the radio again,

"Come in Ranma. Are you there?" He reached over and fumbled with the handset, they'd shown him how to use it before they left.

"Yeah I'm here. Who is this?"

"We met a couple of days ago. The name's Andrew Simons. Do you remember me?"

"Yeah I remember you Agent Simons, what can I do for ya?"

"I have someone here for you to meet."

"Come on in. Why didn't you just turn up though?"

"We didn't want to approach while you were asleep."

"Er how long have I been out?" Ranma asked absentmindedly as he scratched under his arm.

"We've been trying to raise you for two days now."

"Two days?" he asked increduously, 'I haven't had more than a couple of hours sleep a night for months now,' he thought before asking again, "Two days?"

"Yes. It's probably a good thing you slept so long."

"Who was that Simons-san?"

"You remember we said we'd supply help for your situation?"

"Yeah." Ranma got off the cot and stretched for a moment before heading for the box of MRE's he'd been left with. They tasted bad, but he knew you could live off them if you had to.

"Well this is the person we've chosen to help you. Her name is Ameline, Ameline Potrescu. Is it alright if I bring her in?"

"Yeah sure, could ya give me a minute? I'd just like to grab a shower first."

"That won't be a problem Ranma. Would twenty minutes do?"

"Sounds good."

"We'll see you then." Ranma heard a faint click as Andrew Simons cut the connection. Then he headed for the shower.

/ To be continued... \