Author's note: This is the conclusion. Some of the reviews were positive and negative about the amount of dialogue and how it is arranged. I don't like this amount of dialogue at all, but I also don't tend to write long stories. In order to fit all of the where-are-they-now stuff in, I had to write a great deal of what, in movies and television, is called "exposition". That's the process of having two characters just sit and talk about stuff so that the observer learns it more quickly. If you look at my first story, you'll see more writing about actions and surroundings, which is more my normal style. Trust me, the amount of dialogue I was writing in this irritated me early on, but I couldn't find a way around it. As for the organization: I'm intimately well aware that extended dialogue is usually done with paragraph breaks. I intentionally did not do that because it would have required over a hundred paragraphs per chapter. Besides, in that system you typically don't include the names of the speakers in each separate paragraph, and I'd imagine readers would be lost as to which character is talking once they pass line break thirty. As I said, it's a television/movie type of thing, where this stuff is written in screenplay form, making it much clearer to understand.

Also, there were some comments about the characters acting OOC. They are and aren't- I wrote this intentionally thinking of how people tend to change between late teens and mid-20s. Between ages sixteen and twenty-one, I lost a lot of shyness I used to have, so I figured Ranma should, too. As for Kasumi, she's the type of girl that dreamed about marrying and settling down before she'd even graduated high school. She's now twenty-five and single. You do the math. Third, per Nabiki marrying Kuno, there were hints of that in the anime already, and Nabiki likes money while Kuno is rich, so...

Thanks Zeugirdor for pointing out the wrong word; I fixed it. I write these days ahead of time, (I had four chapters written when I started publishing; that's how I updated quickly) but somehow I reread that several times and didn't catch it. Even when the stories are good, it's a pet peeve of mine when published stories have mixups like that. I feel embarrassed for missing that!

Lastly, I want to mention another Ranma x Kasumi fanfic I just read that is far better than this one: triple-W dot fanfiction dot net /s/2971071/1/

That's all of the explaining, now to the story...

A year and a half later...

Ranma and Akane sat on the front step, watching Ryoga and Kotone playing in the yard. Ryoga was looking surprisingly like the a father. He and Akane weren't married, though with the amount of time that had passed, Ranma figured it was an inevitability. "You guys are starting to look like a family," Ranma said. Akane sighed happily. "Yeah," she said. "Ryoga moves really slow with relationship stuff, but we've been seeing a lot of eachother, and he's really been a big help with Kotone. I'm kind of hoping he'll want some more someday..." "Have you told him that?" Ranma asked. Akane laughed. "I like to drop hints about getting married and having children so I can watch him blush!" she said. "Besides," she continued playfully, "not everybody buys a ring after a couple of weeks!" "Hey! We waited a year to get married!" Ranma retorted.

Akane went out to the yard to play with Kotone and Ryoga. The transformation in her had been dramatic. With Ryoga helping, the stress had melted away. She had a very easygoing demeanor compared to before. She was also taking time to spar with Ryoga. The weight she'd gained had melted away, and she was a spitting image of what she used to look like in high school. Ryoga had changed, too. Being in a happy relationship had taken away the anger he used to show toward Ranma. Ranma was surprised to hear that Ryoga's secret had gone over well- he and Akane were caught in a sudden rainstorm, and before she knew it, she was staring at her former pet P-Chan. She'd taken him home in silence, changed him back, and they'd talked. She was mad about him taking advantage of his curse, which Ranma expected, but she was also touched that he'd done so much to spend time with her. Hearing that had surprised Ranma. 'I guess everybody changes,' he'd thought.

He heard a sound behind him and turned around to see Kasumi carrying a plate of hamburgers. "Ah, geez, Kasumi!" he exclaimed. "Let me carry that!" He took the plate and carried it over to their barbecue, with Kasumi in tow. "Ranma," she said, giggling, "I'm pregnant, not sick!" Ranma set the burgers down and looked at his wife. She sure was pregnant; he was sure she'd pop like a balloon if she walked into something sharp. She was six months along, but being skinny as a rail, she already looked like someone with a beach ball under their shirt. After all the time, and everything that had happened, it seemed like a dream that he was about to start raising children there at the Tendo house. He knew that in a couple more months, he'd be welcoming baby Raiden into the world. The thought made him smile.

Ranma put his arm around Kasumi as he started putting the burgers on the grill. The sizzling sounds reminded him of the grill at their hotel in Okinawa, where they'd spent their honeymoon. Remembering what happened during the week they spent there, it wasn't really a surprise that Kasumi now looked like a ripe orange. The thing that surprised him the most was how accepting she'd been of his other form. He hadn't planned to swim while they were at the beach, but on the second day Kasumi convinced him to go ahead, saying that he could just change back when they got back to the hotel. The swimming under the sunset turned romantic after a short time, and Kasumi was quick to be affectionate, despite Ranma being female. They went back to the hotel, but... hot water didn't wind up being necessary. For being the most mild-mannered of the three sisters, she was surprisingly kinky.

Kotone toddled up to Kasumi. She held up three little fingers. "I'm fee years old," she babbled. Ryoga and Akane came over. Akane held her daughter up to Kasumi's round belly. "Look, Kotone," she said. "You have a new cousin growing in there!" Kotone looked fascinated. Ranma smirked. "Maybe she'll have some brothers and sisters coming, too," he said, enjoying Ryoga's sudden redness. Kotone tugged at Ryoga's pant leg. "Daddy... up..." she said. Ryoga smiled as he picked her up, while a tear ran down Akane's smiling face.

Kasumi leaned over and gave Ranma a soft kiss, then a hug. "I love you," she whispered. "I love you too, sweetheart," he answered. "Life is good."

Author's note: Did you get the reference to Kotone saying her age? It's a reference to "Bill Cosby: Himself". No more of these dialogue-heavy fanfics; they're too much of a chore to write. I have an idea for the next one, and it's going to have a lot less talking.