Author's Note:

As you can see, this story has not been abandoned. Apparently, since the last time I posted- which is almost exactly a year ago (371 days, in fact)- Life decided that I needed a bit more on my plate, health-wise. Oh, I'm somewhat better now, but it was a good six months where I couldn't pay attention to the story at all for trying to cope with what seemed to be going on with my body. But we're in the home stretch with this story, and after this, I foresee only one more chapter. But for those of you who have stuck around, I thank you sincerely. And I already have a completely different Ranma ½ story in the works- it'll be vastly larger and longer and more character detailed than this. Admittedly, don't look for it before the beginning of the year, or maybe not until this time next year- but please do look for it. Again, I thank you.

And now…

Growing Pains

Winds of Change

…from the previous chapter…

Xio Fong seemed to pull himself short at that, but only for a brief moment. "If you ever have a favor you need of me, please do not hesitate to ask. I will attempt to be of help if you require it."

Ranma shook his head, smirking gently to himself. He could now see a future for himself and Sakura, and it wasn't a bad vision at all.

Kasumi was the first person on his mind most mornings, now, right after Sakura of course; he was growing more and more pleased with being able to share in his life with someone, someone who wasn't trying to use him, or poison him, or harm him, or break his spirit. He was coming to enjoy the simple interaction he had with her, very much; he had to stop himself from calling her more than once a day, mainly because he didn't have much to say. It was easy enough to get lost in his school work, though; once he had begun to really apply himself, the work began to become easier to do. While it would never be a snap, he was pretty sure, he was also pretty sure that he would eventually graduate high school with scores good enough to get him at least looked at by some of the better named universities. And then of course was the Emperor's endorsement, which would definitely get him a foot in the door wherever he chose to try to study. He was aware, to some degree, that he would have to start looking for a good university for studying how to be a successful martial arts instructor, but for the moment that wasn't a high priority on his list.

Kasumi was the first person on his mind most mornings, now, right after Sakura of course, and the morning after his meeting with the Yakuza lord was no different; he called and talked with her in gentle terms, well aware that Nabiki might be listening in to the line. While the middle Tendo knew some of the particulars of the gifts he'd been given, she wasn't aware of them all, and while the middle Tendo had demonstrated a bit of fairness in his dealings with her lately, he wasn't about to hand over information about his newly-found finances or his new status as clan head to the mercenary girl.

Because of their respective schedules, it was nearly three days later before he could meet her at the marketplace, allowing Yoshi to keep an eye on Sakura. The pair wandered through the marketplace, Kasumi making purchases for the family, and Ranma acting as pack-mule for her- and making a mental note of the prices, that he could swing by later and buy food for himself and Sakura, as well- and discussing the events of the past few days, as well as the nascent thoughts of the future he was having.

"Kasumi," he began tentatively, "do you think I've been making the right choices? I mean, a lot of things have happened in the last week or so, and sometimes I feel like I've just been reacting, rather than making real decisions. And I've never wanted to really hurt anyone, but…being a dad has changed a whole lot of stuff; do you think I've been doing the right things?"

Kasumi was quiet and thoughtful as she turned to look at him. "I think you've been doing the best you can, under the circumstances," she allowed, turning away again to continue walking. "And I do know your spirit, Ranma, and I know that you do try to do your best." She gave a very quiet sigh. "I'm sure that Akane would have been pleased to hear about your conversation with the others, but I will say that that is not a conversation I will have with her; that is up to you to decide if she's worthy of the information."

Ranma nodded thoughtfully, and Kasumi continued, "If I were in your shoes, I don't think I would have made any different choices, so I think you've done well." She offered a gentle smile. "But you don't need my approval, Ranma; you're maturing, and you're a father now."

"I think I understand what you mean," he remarked, "but still, it's nice to be able to have someone in my life to bounce this stuff off of. It's nice to have someone

around who listens to me." He stopped for a moment, turning towards her some; Kasumi stopped and looked at him. "Thank you for being here for me," he offered, and then leaned in close and kissed her on the cheek.

Kasumi blushed deeply, gazing back at him for a moment with surprise in her expression, before she turned away, ducking her head some, and smiling very softly.

The young pair eventually wound their way back to the Tendo home, chatting amicably along the way. It wasn't until he had finished helping Kasumi put away her purchases, that trouble arrived in the form of Genma, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Boy!" he roared, "It's about time you came home! We need to have a talk; you've been out there on the streets long enough!"

Ranma pursed his lips and frowned at his father, shaking his head gently to himself. "We don't need to have a talk, Pops; but I've got a few minutes, so I'll listen to you for a moment while you talk." Ranma gently pushed past his father, and strode into the main room, his father close on his heels.

"That baby has made you disrespectful of your elders," Genma groused loudly. "And it's high time that this nonsense stopped!"

"And what nonsense is that, Pop?" Ranma tossed back at him.

"This whole baby nonsense, that's what!" the panda-man exclaimed. His voice carried far enough to draw others of the Tendo family to the father and son discussion, and within moments, everyone was present, though for the moment all were quiet. Genma looked around, taking note of his audience, and smiled grimly.

"Boy, I demand that you stop this foolish and disrespectful behavior!" he proclaimed, "You'll turn that baby over to the authorities and then come back home here where you belong! Or else!"

"Or else what?" he challenged; he suddenly had a decent idea of what his father was about to attempt.

"Or else I will have you removed from the clan roster," he announced with dark triumph.

A pair of gasps coursed through the room- one from the Tendo patriarch, the other from the youngest Tendo.

"You can't do that," Ranma announced, injecting just enough sarcasm into his voice to be heard as quiet panic or dismay.

"I can, and I will!" Genma offered the barest of smirks, looking around at those within hearing. "As the head of our branch of clan Saotome, I-"

"No, Pops, you can't do that," the pigtailed teen countered, "You can't do that. You're not the clan head anymore."

"Of course I'm the clan head!" Genma's attention focused upon him with a razor sharp intensity. "We can go down to the town hall right now, and see-"

"That the Emperor has removed you from being the head of the clan," Ranma interrupted.

"Wh-wh-what?" the stout martial artist stammered. "Boy, that is ridiculous!"

"Not according to the Emperor it isn't," the younger male smiled. "I mean, I did speak with him a few days ago, about rescuing his son last week, so…" He shrugged, smirking.

"Boy, must you lie on top of your disrespect?" Genma growled at him.

"He's telling the truth, uncle Saotome," Nabiki offered, her words causing the older man to turn abruptly to look at her. "I was there with him. I spoke with the Emperor myself."

Genma looked slack-jawed at Nabiki, his head then slowly turning back to regard a smirking Ranma. "I have an official document, if you wanna see it," he grinned now. "It has the official seal of the Emperor."

With slightly trembling hands, Genma reached out to his son, who withdrew a document, folded and sealed with an official-looking stamp, and gave it to his father. Genma opened the envelope, and read its contents, his face growing ashen.

"So you see, Pop, you can't have me taken off of the clan roster," Ranma smiled brightly at him. "And I have some more news for you. All the engagements that you made for me? They've been canceled, and the clans you engaged me to, they're all going to receive letters telling them that they should come to you, to satisfy any issues with regards to the canceled engagements."

Genma's skin grew even more ashen, if that were possible.

"But on the bright side, Pop," the teen male continued, "you'll be happy to know that the Emperor has cleared all of my debts around Japan, and won't be letting anyone else buy things on the status of just our clan name. They'll either have to pay, or they'll have to provide proof of who they are, so there'll be better records of our purchases- I think he called it 'identity theft'."

"I guess that means you won't have to worry about those strange bills you get in Ranma's name anymore, uncle Saotome," Kasumi added brightly. "If I understand correctly, that means that now no one will be able to claim a debt in his name."

Genma's head whipsawed back and forth between Ranma and Kasumi; Nabiki decided to add her five yen worth now.

"And the Emperor cleared all of Ranma's debt to clan Tendo," she remarked quietly, as though her news wasn't as important to the stout martial artist as it truly was. "He'll be able to work or even go to the university without debt holding him back."

Ganma seemed on the verge of passing out, though high spots of color darkened his cheeks and forehead, a sure sign that he was angry, Ranma knew.

"Look what the cat dragged in," a young female voice called out into the silence.

The aqua transsexual teen turned his attentions towards one of the only people left in the room who hadn't yet spoken.

"Hello, Tendo-san," he replied in formal Japanese, and bowed low to the ground, almost dropping to his knees to do so. "Forgive my lying, cheating, worthless self in your presence; I was merely offering my assistance to your sister by helping bring her purchases home. By your leave, I will remove myself from the sunshine of your beauty."

The Tendo in question glared at him.

"I hope you didn't think I'd fall for your lies about you being free of all the other engagements, and think I'd take you back; you can grovel all you want, but I'm not forgiving you," she snarled at him,

The pigtailed teen stood up, and looked her in the eyes, his expression cold and unfriendly. His tone was light and very submissive as he spoke, however: "I would never seek to become worthy of your forgiveness, Tendo-san, as you have demonstrated to my lying, cheating, worthless self that such a goal is impossible to reach."

He turned away from her, and opened his mouth to speak- either to Nabiki, or Kasumi, neither knew- but then Akane grabbed at his arm.

Ranma held himself rock still, and then slowly looked over his shoulder at her. To her credit, she released her grip.

"Whadda you mean by that? Channelling Kuno?" she shot back at him.

"What it means is I was trying to be nice to you, Tendo," he all but spat at her. "I've had time to think about a lot of things, all by myself, taking care of a baby, without help from anyone, including the woman I thought I loved and who I thought loved me. You're not worth me telling you what those thoughts are, but I'll say this- I don't give a darn anymore if you ever believe me or forgive me. When I needed you the most, when I was ready to finally turn to you and share my life with you, you not only abandoned me, but you called me a liar, and a cheater, and told me that I was worthless to you by tossing our engagement off like it was nothing but trash. Your words, Tendo, 'I never wanted to be engaged to him'." He fell silent, but only for pair of heartbeats. "All the love I had for you is gone now. So what you do with your life, ain't no concern of mine anymore." He turned away again, and then paused.

"And speaking of Kuno? I'll make sure to let him know that the 'vile sorcerer Saotome' no longer has a hold on his 'beauteous Akane'."

Ranma hummed faintly as he strolled down the street with Sakura in her carrier on his chest, faintly amazed that it had only been a little more than four weeks now that she'd been in his life. A lot's changed since then, he'd thought to himself. Roughly four weeks before, his life had been much simpler, unburdened—no, not a burden; Sakura was most definitely not a burden. But she hadn't been around, then, and his life was slowly swirling down the drain, with his nearly constant fights with Ryouga, or Mousse—Mu Tzu, he reminded himself—or even Akane, and being besieged by demands of his love and affection at practically all hours by Xian Pu, Ukyou and Kodachi.

A part of him was momentarily saddened by the fact that while he'd counted Akane among his potential fiancées, she certainly hadn't considered him much of one, except perhaps to deny the other ladies who wanted his affections that privilege, but he pushed that brief flare of sadness to the side. It went easily enough; he wasn't especially sad much these days now, in part because he was so busy taking care of Sakura, and learning by leaps and bounds about what he would need to know to be a good father to her—to grow up, in other words—and in part because of the support system he had inadvertently developed. Detseru-san and Yoshi, as well as the Emperor and the head of the Yakuza—and who would have considered that that person would be a part of his support system?

Roughly four weeks ago he didn't had a daughter, a daughter who he had grown to love almost as purely as he had once thought he'd loved Akane. Roughly four weeks ago, he was stuck in the rut that was Nerima, fighting and fending off everyone who wanted a piece of him, doing his best to hold himself together, to keep the peace and not go crazy trying to figure out how to live his life and who he should live his life with. Roughly four weeks ago, he was quietly wondering if all that surrounded him was the sum total of what was his due in life.

And then, she had come. Born to him in the midst of terrible tragedy, she'd given him a focus, a purpose, and had unwittingly shown him just what was important. Her presence had made it clear that he couldn't continue simply existing as he had been doing, that he needed to take much more active role in his own life, that he needed to take someone else into consideration of his thoughts and words and actions, that he needed take a good hard look at himself and what was going on around him, and do better.

And in the midst of it all, Kasumi had helped him.

When no one else had thought to offer him a hand, she had listened to him, and given him what advice she could, in order to help him find the path to fatherhood, to self-improvement, to growing up.

And four weeks later, he was a better man—or at least, more of a man, now, than he'd been then. He had friends—real friends; money; powerful connections; and he had begun to make something of himself. But most importantly, what he had was the beginnings of a family, those he had chosen to love and accept into his heart, and every day, while those other things gained a greater solidness as a part of his new reality, he learned even more importantly the strength and emotion of the bonds of those he called family.

Sakura was his family now, more so than his mother and father—especially his father, now. Sakura, and Kasumi. She was his family too, now, even if she didn't quite know it yet; she had been there for him, and the appreciation and affection he felt for her, for just being there for him when he had needed someone to be there—

A faint flicker of ki registered in his awareness, and he went from blissfully unaware to dangerously alert. Almost as quickly- and nearly as one person- the few people on the streets within his field of view all stiffened, and looked around themselves while quickly finding something to duck down behind. A few moments after that, a trio of martial artists dropped down into his view from the rooftops above, a few dozen meters away.

Had it been just Mu Tzu and Xian Pu, and himself, he might have been a bit wary, but lowered his guard. But it wasn't just Mu Tzu and Xian Pu, and it wasn't just himself. Ku Lon was with them, and Sakura was with him, and that made what could have been a potentially unpleasant day into a potentially very deadly one.

"Hello…" the elder spoke, and there was a hint of what he might have thought was mischievous hesitation in her tone, though at least at face value her tone was light and polite. Her face was schooled into a neutral, unreadable expression, while her eyes betrayed nothing to him, and though he was well aware of the other two, his truest focus lay with her. Neither Mu Tzu nor Xian Pu spoke, though each looked like they dearly wanted to.

"You made Shampoo cry!" Mu Tzu blurted out in an angry rush, before Ku Lon managed to bop him in the head with her walking stick; the duck boy crouched over, holding his head from the hard rap, and a touch of emotional tension appeared in Xian Pu's expression as she now all but glared at him. The elder simply looked at him, a slight questioning look to her wizzened features.

"I didn't mean to make her cry," the pig-tailed martial artist spoke with quiet steeliness. "I told her that I was tired of all the fiancee mess, and that I was done with it. If she wanted, we could try and maybe be friends one day, but I have a daughter to take care of, and I wasn't her airen anymore."

"Our tribal laws guide us in our actions, wherever we go," Ku Lon spoke with deliberate care.

"I'm not of your tribe," he growled back quietly, "and I have responsibilities that take precedence to your tribal laws. I hope you understand that and what it should mean, honored elder."

"I understand what you think it means," the elder replied.

His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. "Do you believe otherwise?" he offered in a voice that was a bit more calm than previously, something that seemed to sharpen the gaze of the elder.

"And if I did?"

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he stood up straight, and lowered his head. For a few moments, a corona of ki grew and outlined the form of his body, and then seemed to fade away again. But when he lifted his head again, all could see ki glowing in his gaze.

"If you did, honored elder, I would be very unhappy."

Ku Lon appeared to be considering his words for a few moments, before she gave him a brief, curt nod of her head, and then a softening of her features. "Fortunately for these two, I believe that my understanding is the same as your understanding."

She then turned towards Xian Pu. "Grand-child," she began, "I have humored you and assisted you in your attempts to gain the affections of son-in-law, but the time has come for you to cease in these attempts. Son-in-law has…" She paused, and then continued, "Saotome-san has explained how you may have a chance, a better chance, to gain his affections, if you do as he suggests. Perhaps that might be a better way."

Ranma frowned; that wasn't what he had been suggesting at all—but a quick glance from Ku Lon and an almost unseen wink let him know that she understood, and he understood in that wink that she was likely doing her best to give Xian Pu hope that not all was lost, and allow her to save face. He clenched his jaw momentarily; he didn't like it, but perhaps the elder was also attempting to save Xian Pu's life as well, knowing or maybe guessing what his reaction might be if she continued to persist in her actions.

"But elder!— " Mu Tzu attempted to interrupt, but the words seem to stick in his throat as she suddenly was looking at him.

"And you, mister part-time," she addressed the myopic hidden weapons expert, "Neither I nor the village will be responsible to you or help you in any way for Saotome's reactions should you cause injury to his innocent child."

"I would never!" Mu Tzu offered in offended complaint, "Saotome, maybe, but never an innocent!" He gave a quick bespeckled glance towards Ranma, and then refocused on Ku Lon. "Is it alright if I injure him as long as his daughter isn't around?"

Ku Lon rapped him across the head again, making the younger Chinese male nearly drop to his knees again in pain.

"If he is no longer airen to Xian Pu, then why would you need to injure him, duck boy?" she asked in an exasperated tone of voice. "Why would you need to attack him at all?

Mu Tzu opened his mouth to answer, and then caught himself, before he gently closed it again.

Ranma watched the trio with a wary gaze, but after the elder's comments, he was less afraid that they'd come to force him to go back to China with them.

"So no more attackin' me?" he asked his suddenly quiet rival, though to be honest, his question was aimed at all of them.

Mu Tzu gave him a heavy frown and seemed to think about his answer before he gave it. "For now," he spoke, his tone somewhat hesitant.

Ranma also took a moment to think about his answer. "Good enough, I suppose," he returned.

"I wanted it made clear," Ku Lon picked up the conversation. "I wanted both Xian Pu and Mu Tzu to know that I will not tolerate their actions causing harm to innocents."

Ranma pursed his lips at that for a moment, but gave a brief nod in understanding; deep down, he knew that it couldn't just end, even if it was what he would truly wish for. But it was at least a start; it was a compromise he could live with, for now, that Xian Pu would consider him perhaps as a friend rather than an airen, that Mu Tzu would at least consider leaving him alone for the foreseeable future. It would give him room to breathe, room to grow as a person, and the ability to raise Sakura without worrying if he too would leave her abandoned to the world.

"Having done what I'd come to do, Saotome, we shall take our leave now," Ku Lon expressed softly, and then with a brief nod at him, and then at both Xian Pu and Mu Tzu, the three of them leaped up to a nearby rooftop, and disappeared.

He was left oddly empty, but at the same time, oddly at peace as well. It took him a few moments to think it over, to realize that what he was feeling was a sense of ending. Closure, he'd remembered reading about once in a story. He nodded to himself. Yes, closure. It was definitely that.

Oddly enough, it was a rather nice feeling.

-Nerima Prefecture, Shakujii District

One month later…

"This is your place, Ramna-kun?" Kasumi gave a slight gasp as Ranma opened the gate to the small home with a "ta-da!"

It was a small house, or at least it was smaller than the Tendo residence, but it was clearly a house for living in, not as the grounds upon which would stand a dojo. One story in height, it just barely avoided being a cube by the fact that it was a dozen meters wider than the depth of it from front to the rear; it was a modest dwelling, well suited for a young couple with perhaps a single child…or for the aqua-transexual boy named Ranma, and his adopted daughter. Not too far from Kasumi or her family, his new home was situated just a few blocks from Shakujii Park and the Shakujii Police Station, as well as not too far from the daycare center, allowing him a pretty good environment in which to raise Sakura.

The pig-tailed martial artist gave her a wide grin and a brief but enthusiastic nod of his head. "Sure is!" he grinned widely. "Mine and Sakura's." His grin faded a touch as he thought, and then said, "Please don't tell Pop or anyone else where I live? I'd like to have some peace and quiet for as long as I can get it."

"My lips will be sealed," Kasumi grinned back at him, and then giggled softly.

"Would you allow me to show you around?" he offered with a broad, warm, easy smile.

"I would be pleased," Kasumi returned.

His smile grew even further, as he turned to lead his guest into the small yard, and then closed the gate behind her.