2 years later

It seemed strange to Ranma and Kasumi, being back in their old home. They had been away for so long that it had seemed like it was a lifetime ago, when they were still staying in the Tendo home, each going about their daily lives, oblivious to each other and their pain that was deeply rooted within their souls. They had trained for a little over two years at Master Sang-Ya's monastery in the Himalayas. To the ordinary observer, they would have seemed no different from ordinary citizens. To a trained eye, they would still seem no different from ordinary people albeit with one distinct difference.

During their training, one of the first lessons that they had been taught was suppression, the ability to figuratively "hide" one's aura and power from those who were trained to read them. Ranma and Kasumi understood the value of this ability. It would enable them to be very difficult to track by their enemies, especially the council of five's lapdogs, the Maethra. Ranma understood during their training why the Maethra, Varruk, had managed to track them down so easily without having seen their faces. It was through their very distinct auras and power signatures that he was able to sense them even from a great distance. To be able to suppress their powers was a great asset if they were to avoid detection.

It was as if nostalgia had permeated the air around Nerima ward and both were affected by it. A wave of memories came crashing through, like a tidal wave. Surreptitious and sudden, they had not defense against the onslaught of memories that breached their consciousness. Ranma's constant fighting with Ryoga, Kasumi's constant cooking and cleaning around the house, Ranma's constant stream of enemies invading and destroying the area, Kasumi's constant serenity and harmony with her surroundings. They were two contrasting personas that seemed like polar opposites, with Ranma being chaos and Kasumi being harmony, and yet through exceptional circumstances find themselves so seemingly alike.

And as fast as the memories had entered their minds, they were gone. It was just for a moment, but to the two, it felt like a lifetime had passed. It immediately passed through their minds, what would their families think, about them running away, being gone for two years without so much as a word home, about so many other things such as their fathers' deaths? There were so many questions and so many answers and yet the most important question had yet to be asked by the two, what was next? They remembered Master Sang-Ya's words as they left the monastery.

"It is necessary to find the path within your selves," the elderly sound resonated within their minds. "Of course you have trained to defeat your enemy, but fighting is about more than that, it is about finding something to protect for that will give you strength to keep on fighting no matter what the circumstances and finding something to live for after the fighting is over for that will give you courage to see your journey to the end." They hear him sigh and then continue once more, "The truth is, whether or not you live or die doesn't matter. Life will go on within the world. But the fact of the matter is, that despite all that, to keep on fighting for something you believe in, whether to protect one, many or even the world. That is how you will value yourself, not by how many fights you've won or how good the food you cook is, but the meaning behind those actions and whether or not they are sincere and whether or not you strongly believe in them. That, my dear students, is the difference between good and evil and that is why good always triumphs over evil, because evil fights for strength and strength alone, while good fights to protect those who believe in it."

The words echoed in their minds. However it was the meaning behind those words that was most transparent to them. With those words, they were determined to find a path for themselves. And they thought that what better way to find a path than to go back to where it all began. And so here they were, walking the streets of Nerima with its twists and turns, the alleyways and the small side roads. They were almost upon their destination and with each grew more nervous. Although Ranma had faced death and stared it in the face before, he had never felt as nervous as he had right at that moment.

They weren't there only to find a path for themselves, but also resolve past conflicts. There was much explaining to do. Throughout their stay under Master Sang-Ya's tutelage, while they had always remained focus on all he had to teach, they had always wondered what befell the residents of their former home. What had happened to everyone after they left? Were they looking for the two of them? What about their fathers, were they properly buried? So many questions they had, and yet so little answers they possessed.

They had to pass through the winding roads, circuitous paths and crooked alleyways before they could arrive at their eventual destination, the Tendo home. It stood there, like a colossal giant, attempting to engulf them in its presence. A paradoxical view, taking into account that the Tendo home was no more gigantic as the Empire State Building was small. They stood there, unable, unwilling to move. But eventually the feeling dissipated. Being afraid wasn't going to help them nor lessen the undoubtedly incredulous reactions of both of their families, so they gathered up their courage and then Ranma knocked upon the bamboo door.

His knock was greeted with silence. After a few moments he knocked again and this time his knock did illicit a response, a shuffling of feet from within the house. The door suddenly opened and their emerged a long, blue haired girl wearing a deep blue apron, brandishing a spatula in her right hand. At first, she was distracted by another distant voice yelling, "If you're not careful Akane, you'll burn your eggs again." Ranma and Kasumi were surprised to see that Akane grew her hair back. She never did take the time before to do so, and they were perplexed as to why she did so during the time they were gone.

She didn't look much different though, a little bit older perhaps. Her face lost the youthfulness of the past and was replaced by the face of a strong woman. She grew a bit taller, although Kasumi was still taller than her by a few inches. Thought that wasn't the most surprising thing about her. What surprised the couple was Akane looked a lot like Kasumi before their departure. Akane was clad in a turquoise housedress with a flowered pattern. The apron was probably new as Kasumi didn't recognize it, although she couldn't quite tell because it had numerous amounts of stains on it.

It seemed as if it had been a rag at a restaurant's kitchen. Kasumi could tell there were soy sauce stains, ketchup stains, oil stains, and stains that she couldn't quite make out due to the myriad of mixtures that the stains produced.

Still, Akane had not noticed them and was preoccupied with talking to another voice within the house. "Hold on a minute, Nabiki, someone's at the door," Akane shouted back. She wiped her hands on her apron and greeted them with a deep bow, ever oblivious to their identities.

"Welcome to our house," she said. And it wasn't until that moment that she noticed who the two at door were. She blinked a few times, as if her eyes were deceiving her, as if she couldn't believe what they were trying to tell her. Then, she trembled; one could almost see the brimming emotion beneath her eyes. Despite her best efforts, Akane couldn't hold back her tears and she collapsed unto Ranma and sobbed her eyes out.

Ranma could not do anything but hug her and stroke her back, continuously reassuring her with his words, "We're back… we're back." Akane after a few moments dried her tears and shook her head.

"Where the hell did you go and why did you take my sister?" Her angry words were not surprising to Ranma. He and Kasumi had prepared for this moment for two long years, but despite their continuous rehearsal, it was still difficult for Ranma to say the words that they had so meticulously planned.

"Why don't we go inside? I'm sure Nabiki would like to know that we have arrived as well." Kasumi suggested. Akane nodded vigorously, "Yes, I almost forgot!" She ran inside and shouted Nabiki's name, "Nabiki, Nabiki!"

"What's with all the shouting?" asked Nabiki as she entered the entry hall. "It's Ranma and Kasumi! They're back." Nabiki also had the same incredulous reaction as Akane had just a few moments ago. She ran past Akane and hugged her sister. Nabiki hugged Kasumi so tight that it felt like a vise.

"Nabiki, I'm happy to see you too. Now, if you don't let go of me soon. I might suffocate." Kasumi cheerfully warned her younger sister. Nabiki was not as thrilled with Ranma however.

"You," as Nabiki pointed her finger at him. "What the hell did you do with my sister? Despite my best efforts to find you, I couldn't. I looked all over Japan, in the North, in the South and yet nothing. Normally someone leaves some trace, but with you, nothing!" Nabiki shook her head. "The minute that I noticed that you two disappeared I went to the train station to try and find you. I asked everyone there if they saw anyone matching your description and no one, not even the ticket seller could identify that you were there. So tell me, how did you pull off your disappearing act, Ranma?"

Ranma could only smile at the deception that they played on Nabiki. "Why don't we talk about it more inside? We've been walking for hours to get here, the least you could do is invite us in."

"Walking for hours?" asked Nabiki, shocked. "Why didn't you take a cab or a bus or the subway?"

"Well… we didn't have any money. We spent it all on our plane tickets and a few supplies. Anyway it's a long story and it's been a long day, let's talk about it inside." Both Akane and Nabiki were silent after Ranma's response, as if they were considering something. It seemed like they were both wrongly convinced that Ranma kidnapped Kasumi and she didn't want that all.

"I wasn't kidnapped by Ranma if that's what you were thinking. It was a mutual decision between the two of us to leave." Kasumi explained. The two younger sisters were visibly disconcerted by the admission of what were on their very thoughts.

"No… no, we weren't thinking that. We just… wanted an explanation." as Nabiki skillfully denied the accusation flippantly. They invited Ranma and Kasumi into the house to sit in the living room and the two were filled with nostalgic memories as the Tendo home looked the same as always.

The wooden entry hall floor shone and indicated that it was well-maintained and well-cared for. The walls were pristinely clean and white as if dust feared to tread there. The doors were still the same, as if Ranma hadn't crashed through them so many times in the past. Everything was where it was and it seemed Kasumi's two younger sisters had done well for themselves during the time that both she and Ranma were away training in Tibet.

If it were possible, even the air felt the same, the feelings that were in the walls, the floor, all around them seem to permeate the entire house, washing them away with a sense of wonder and amazement, as if it were the first time that they had seen the Tendo home. In a way, it was. It seemed like that for the past two years, their home was the stone gray walls of the monastery. While Ranma and Kasumi appreciated all the help and training that Sang-Ya gave them, even Sang-Ya himself admitted that the accommodations were not that good and were barely adequate.

The monastery had no beds as Sang-Ya never needed to have any as he was the only one residing in the monastery and he usually slept on the floor. Furthermore, no conventional means of transportation bridged the monastery with any nearby city, further complicating their situation. They only received periodic air drops of food that a friend of Sang-Ya was kind enough to provide.

Back in the monastery, they slept on the floor and ate food that seemed like what animals would eat. Their food usually consisted of tubers and if they were lucky, some miscellaneous vegetables, but never meat, fish or poultry. This was because Sang-Ya's friend was a mere farmer and he gave some of his excess crops to Sang-Ya as compensation for a past favor that Sang-Ya had not revealed.

Moreover, the two of them had to bathe at a nearby spring together, which caused great embarrassment for the two of them. However, Sang-Ya called it, "An exercise in courage" and "A show of affection" he said that it would allow the two of them to grow closer and not to suffer embarrassment even when unclothed.

Apart from that, sleeping, eating and bathing, they were mostly training, day and night. And not just training for the body, but also for the mind. They had to do a lot of mental exercises. However, their exercises were different between the two of them. Whereas the physical exercises had been mostly uniform for the both of them and they both had them at the same time, the mental exercises were not.

The mental training had strictly been conducted separately, although Ranma and Kasumi were not forbidden to discuss them during the times that they were not training. For Ranma they usually consisted of military strategy and tactics while for Kasumi's it usually consisted of the sciences. It seemed strange that monks knew all this stuff, but for the most part, they paid it no heed. They supposed not everyone was a monk all the time, or was a monk in the past.

They did have breaks, about an hour for lunch and dinner and a few hours between the end of the training regimen at night and before they went to sleep. They talked about a lot of things, such as what they did during the mental exercises, discussed techniques and some stuff about the training. They also talked about their feelings and their growing comfort with each other. Although they had not done anything that crossed that implicit line between themselves, not until their growing feelings have developed enough, they still explored each other's bodies.

It was a euphoric process for the both of them. They reveled in each caress, each touch, and each kiss that they gave and received. They had never let it go too far though. Their self-control was enormous and add that to the fact that they weren't prepared yet. Still, Ranma had gone far. He was not uncomfortable with the bareness of a female body anymore and he would not be flustered by women's advances at them. Although he would never consort with them, it was a relief to Ranma that he no longer had to feel like a scared rabbit every time a woman tried to grab on to him. Now he could just gently rebuff them, and if they still didn't listen, be a little bit more forceful – not too much though because that might hurt them.

But Ranma and Kasumi's thoughts were snapped out of their nostalgic reverie by the clearing of Nabiki's throat. "So exactly how long are we going to sit here, staring at each other?" The couple looked a little sheepish because of their prolonged sojourn into a time that had past.

Ranma began, "I'm sorry. But I think I'll let Kasumi explain the reasons why she came with me. And I'll try to explain why we had to leave in the first place." Ranma motioned for Kasumi to start. "I had started liking Ranma ever since he first came here. But due to extraneous reasons at that time, I had chosen to push him off to either Nabiki or Akane, since Nabiki was in agreement with me, we both concurred to push him on to you, Akane."

The two sisters nodded, and Kasumi continued, "I decided to bury my feelings through a mask of indifference and joviality despite my regrets for pushing Ranma to be with Akane. But throughout the years, it became harder and harder and it became a weight that burdened my heart. But as long as Ranma loved Akane, I could not come between him and my sister."

Kasumi turned her face away, a far-off look emerging from her features. As if going back to a time that had long past. "I had thought that if I occupied myself with some other endeavors I would manage to forget my feelings for Ranma, but I was wrong. Studying medical textbooks, knitting, taking trips did nothing for me and my feelings stayed the same despite my effort. I tried to see other people so that they would enable me to forget about Ranma. But one of them, Dr. Tofu, went a little nutty whenever I was around, and the others just couldn't help me forget."

Kasumi turned her eyes pointedly at Akane, staring at her. It seemed like she was boring through Akane's soul, trying to get a feel for Akane. "But I held out hope that as long as Akane continued to beat up Ranma and denied her feelings for him, I had a chance. That chance was dashed by Akane's decision after the unsuccessful wedding to give Ranma a chance at dating her." Kasumi's eyes darkened a bit, revealing her sadness at that memory, the loss of hope was always a sad thing.

"And so, I thought my chances were finally over. I thought that all that was standing between you and Ranma was your unwillingness to open your heart to him. I was wrong, again." Just as soon as the emotion flickered into life in Kasumi's eyes, it soon evaporated into passivity once more. "When the two of you started dating, Akane, I could sense that there was a problem immediately. There was nothing overtly wrong, but I had a feeling, call it women's intuition, that there was something… wrong." Akane turned her eyes from Kasumi's pointed stare. She almost couldn't bear the intensity of her sister on her.

"When I heard that you and Ranma broke up, I was conflicted. I was sad that my sister didn't find happiness. But I was also glad that a chance for my happiness opened up. I felt happy and sad at the same time, but my happiness overwhelmed my sadness. Then circumstances just fell into my favor and I went away with Ranma to train. So there you have it." Kasumi crossed her arms below her breasts and leaned back into the upholstered chair. Kasumi had on a grey button up shirt, not unlike those used by people who go to safaris and khaki knee-length shorts with brown work boots. Her hair was down and cascaded down her back just a few centimeters before her waist.

Ranma clapped his hands twice and announced, "Alright, now that Kasumi's sappy story," which earned him a glare from her, but was quickly replaced with a small smile. "is over. Let's get on to why we had to go away. Basically, some people are hunting us. For what reason, we don't know. All w do know is a monster came in here smashing everything up and tried to kill us, it killed our parents.

That little fact shook Akane and Nabiki a bit. They had never been able to figure out what happened to their parents. They were dead when they had come back, with their house in shambles. At first, they had thought that both Ranma and Kasumi were also killed, but a small note on top of the dining room table that contained seven words, "Gone to train, don't look for us" and signed with their names, led them to believe otherwise. As Nabiki had previously said, she had never been able to find where they went to.

Now she knew why, if they had gone to the mountains, nobody would be able to find them. She didn't know if this was intentionally planned by Ranma – she didn't think so – or merely a coincidence – the most probable reason.

"Now, we don't know who exactly tried to have us killed. But the one that tried to kill us was a Maethra, it looks like a giant werewolf, named Varruk. He said that he worked for the council of five, whatever that means, and said he was here to kill me and incidentally Kasumi because she was there." Akane and Nabiki listened raptly to the tale that Ranma was telling them, whether or not they believed him was unsure, but whatever killed their parents and ripped their faces off couldn't have been human.

"Now this Maethra was very strong, stronger than me, in fact. It was even stronger than Saffron. Even though we hadn't fought, I could feel its power, its strength and it was scary, extremely scary. That was when I knew that we had to go train and not just some run-of-the-mill training, but hardcore training, because of this threat. I had to get exponentially stronger or I and everyone that I care about shall be killed." Ranma took Kasumi's hand in his and squeezed it as if to give him strength.

"The reason why I took Kasumi with me is because I care for her, a whole damn lot, but also because she was in danger now too. I would have never endangered her or brought her with me if I knew she would be safe. But the problem is that if that monster was stronger than me, it was probably stronger than anyone else here. So I knew that none of you could protect her."

Akane and Nabiki both understood his reasons, but that didn't mean that they were ready to forgive him. They were both in the firm belief that he brought this upon them. That if he hadn't lived there, their father would still be alive, Kasumi would still be with them and all their problems would be

"The fact of the matter is Ranma, you have been the cause of the problems here and we don't know if we can forgive you… not for a long while. You took away our sister and our father was killed. Whatever the reasons might have been is irrelevant. If you hadn't been here, all of this would never have happened." Nabiki's scathing words, cut into Ranma's heart and he regretted all the pain that he has caused them. But he understood why they felt that way and he could not blame them. But what's done is done, and he could not change the past.

"I understand, we have come only to explain to you what has happened. We are leaving now. We have a lead on where we can find more information about the Maethra and the Council of Five." Nabiki put a slim finger below her chin and nodded thoughtfully, "Where will the two of you sleep?"

Ranma looked at Kasumi and she nodded. "We shall be camping outside, we have done so before and we shall continue to do so even now." Nabiki shook her head in reproach, "I knew that you'd say that. Don't think that we've forgiven you, but you are our sister and our sister's ex-fiancé and ex-boyfriend, so you can stay here, as long as you're in Nerima. Just because we don't see eye-to-eye doesn't mean that we're not going to give you at least a roof over your heads for the time you're hear. Just how long will you be staying, anyway?"

Kasumi replied before Ranma could open his mouth, "We shall not be long, maybe two or three days. Thank you sister for this kindness that you have bestowed upon us, we hope that you shall forgive us someday, even if today is not that day." Kasumi bowed in her seat and Nabiki merely nodded at the gesture.

"A few days it is, I guess we can spare the food and other necessities for that time. You can use your old room Kasumi," She turned to Ranma, "Ranma, you can use your old room as well." Kasumi shook her head, "That's unnecessary, Nabiki. We can both share my room. My bed is big enough for the both of us."

At this, Nabiki and Akane, who was silent for most of the conversation, was stunned. Their mouths dropped open and they were speechless. "We have slept together before, Nabiki, Akane. It is a necessity out in the road since we only have one sleeping bag. Now we've been used to it and we feel more comfortable sleeping together." Ranma nodded in agreement and chose to remain silent on the matter, fearing that if he spoke, he would be branded as some kind of pervert, again. So he chose to let Kasumi do the talking.

Kasumi felt that her sisters have gaped long enough and added, with a tone of finality, "That is non-negotiable." Nabiki sighed and acquiesced to the elder Tendo sister's condition. "Alright, you can have the same room. We can talk some more once you've gotten settled. I'll call for take out since you're probably too tired to cook, Kasumi, and Akane still can't cook to save her life."

Ranma and Kasumi were both grateful that they would be able to rest. Though they did not show it, they were weary of camping out and walking all the way to Nerima. They wanted to rest, and maybe later they would reveal more of their training to Nabiki and Akane. As they gathered their things and headed up the steps, Nabiki called out to them, her head poking from the doorway to the kitchen. "Just don't be too loud, ok?" And with a sly wink, her head went back into the kitchen. Both Ranma and Kasumi blushed a deep red at this, because they were embarrassed and because they were reminded of the fact that they had not taken their relationship to that level yet.