Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful Romiko Takahashi and her licensees (Viz Communications in North America). This work is strictly for the non-profit enjoyment of fans. No copyright infringement is intended. ========================== Neko No Part 2 a Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by TeW Last Update: Sept 1, 2000 ========================== Nabiki strolled out to the dojo where she knew her sister would be working out or breaking bricks. Her father had asked her to get everyone together to meet a visitor that was coming over. Sure enough she was setting up another brick. Just as Nabiki stepped into the dojo she raised her hand over the brick to break it with a single blow. Timing it just right Nabiki spoke just as Akane's hand was about to come down. "Akane, we have a visitor." Akane looked at her and for just a second Nabiki thought she saw her sister glow with a blue-white light. Akane moaned loudly and droped like a sack of rocks. "Oh, oh." Nabiki muttered. "Kasumi! She yelled. "Akane's passed out!" Then she ran into the dojo to see if she could help her little sister. === End Part 2 === Akane's head hurt. Badly. She cracked open an eye and saw Kasumi and Mrs. Saotome sitting on either side of her. "Akane, are you all right?" Kasumi asked. "My head hurts." She admitted. "You hit it on the brick in the dojo when you passed out." Kasumi said. "It's not a bad wound, but we should have Dr. Tofu look at it." The thought of going to see Dr. Tofu should have filled her with glee. For some reason it didn't this time. Maybe it was Mrs Saotome's presence, it reminded her that...who was Mrs. Saotome? She didn't know anyone by that name, but somehow she'd instantly recognized this woman and knew her name. She turned to the woman. "Hello. Nice to meet you, I'm Akane Tendo." She said, trying to ignore the way turning her head had made the pain shift back and forth in her head. "Hello Akane, my name is Nodoka Saotome. It's very nice to meet you again." Akane relaxed. She had met the woman before, that's why she'd recognized her. The weird feelings and half memories must just be the blow to the head. Mrs. Saotome gave her a warm smile. "The last time we met you were less than a week old." She continued. "Oh." So maybe there was more to it than half remembering. Maybe she'd seen a picture of her around or something. "Can you sit up?" Kasumi asked. "Daddy wants to talk to all of us. Something to do with Mrs. Saotome's visit." "Sure." Akane sat up carefully, wincing at the pain. At least it seemed to be limited to a monster headache. "Kasumi, could you please get me some aspirin?" "Of course." Soon they were gathered around the table. Akane was starting to feel better, though the odd half-memories were, if anything, getting stronger. "The reason I asked you all to meet was that Mrs. Saotome recieved a call from her husband earlier this morning. He and his son Ranma will be returning from their long training trip today. When they arrive we can finally fullfil the promises we made so long ago." Akane could almost remember what was about to happen. It was like having a word on the tip of her toung. "And what promise is that daddy?" Nabiki asked. "The promise to join our families and schools by marriage. If one of you three were to marry Ranma and carry on the training hall, the family legacy would be secure." Akane was becoming convinced she was dreaming. She *knew* what has happening, she *knew* what the boy would be like, she *knew* that she would love him. "So you want one of us to marry this Ranma?" Akane said. "Yes, you'll all get a chance to meet him in a little bit." Her father answered. "Ah, Akane? How did you know his name?" Nabiki asked. Akane turned to look at her sister. Something in her eyes must have startled her because she shifted back away from Akane. "I don't know. The same way I knew Mrs. Saotome before she introduced herself. Maybe we've met before?" "No dear, I'm sure. We haven't met since you were tiny." Nodoka said. "Wierd." Nabiki said. "Thinking you know Mrs. Saotome could just be the blow to your head, but pulling a name out of the air like that has to be something more." "I'm sure there's an explaination. Maybe it will be obvious when Ranma and his father arrive." "Yes, Ranma," Nabiki drawled. "What's he like, is he cute?" "How old his he? Younger men are so...young." Akane stood up. "Akane, don't you want to hear about Ranma?" Nabiki asked. "I...already know. He's my age, and he *is* cute, and...I need to take a walk. I'll be in the dojo." Akane stumbled off, needing to be alone with the memories bouncing around in her head. * * * * Kasumi watched her sister walk off. She was worried about her, though she had a pretty good idea of what was going on. "That was strange, even for Akane." Nabiki said. "Yes, I'm worried about her." Her father said. "Oh, I don't think it's anything to worry about." Nodoka said with a smile. "Obviously she's met Ranma before." Kasumi nodded. That matched her own guess. "Yes, that explains a lot." Nabiki looked at Kasumi for a second, then her eyes widened in realization. "That's why she doesn't like the boys at school, she already has a boyfriend!" Nabiki paused a moment then grinned. "Must be a bit of a shock finding out the boy you're pining away for is your fiancee." Kasumi shared a look with Nabiki. A look filled mostly with releif. Neither wanted an arranged marriage, and this was an easy way out, one that there little sister wouldn't even mind. "That my son made such an impression on a girl is certainly a good sign. I'm sure he's quiet manly." "Oh my." Kasumi got out. Could they have...at such a young age too. She better make sure Akane and Ranma got together just in case. "Father, it looks as if Akane is the best choice." Kasumi said. "I agree. They're the same age and Akane is the one interested in the school." Nabiki added. "And it seems they already know each other." Nodoka was almost smirking. "Very well, unless there's a problem Ranma will be Akane's fiancee. Since they already know each other we should be able to get them married soon." "Oh my." Kasumi got out again. She really had to break that habit. "They're a little young for that." "Why Akane isn't much younger than I was when I married Genma." Nodoka said. "Still, there's no hurry, I'm sure we can give them more than the traditional week to get to know each other." Kasumi relaxed. As long as they didn't try to get them married right away she would have time to work on her father to get them to delay as long as necessary. At least she didn't have to worry about Akane's infatuation with Dr. Tofu anymore. She'd begun to worry as Akane grew older and more attractive. After all there wasn't that much difference between sixteen and nineteen to someone Dr. Tofu's age. "Why don't I start lunch. I'm sure Ranma and his father will be hungry when they arrive." Kasumi said, mostly for Nabiki's benifit. If she was making dinner, Nabiki would have to be the one to check on Akane. "I think I'll go see how our little sister is doing." Nabiki said. As they left Kasumi heard her father and Mrs. Saotome start discussing wedding plans. She'd have to keep an eye on them. Neko No 2b.3 Nabiki found Akane sitting at the outside door to the dojo, legs hanging over the side. She seemed to be studying a large leather shoulder bag of some kind. "How are you feeling little sister?" "I'm not sure, this is so strange." Akane's voice sounded distant, like she wasn't really paying attention to her words. Not one to miss such an opportunity, Nabiki decided to try to get to the heart of the matter. "So when did you meet Ranma?" It didn't work. The question brought Akane's attention back and she glared at her sister. "Who said I've met him before?" "Mrs. Saotome figured it out, and you still haven't answered the question." "Well..sort of, it's not that simple." "I didn't think it was simple or you would have told us about it sooner. So tell me about it." "What's to tell?" "How old were you? Was it romantic? Did you two sleep together?" "Hey! I...well I'm *not* going into details. You wouldn't believe them anyway, but..." Akane paused for a second, her eyes looking at something far away. "He was ten years old, and freezing to death on a cold night. Actually we *did* sleep together, to warm him up. As for romantic...it hardly matters at ten, does it?" "So how come you never told us about this?" This wasn't what she expected at all. Akane was telling the truth, she could tell that much, she could also tell that she wasn't telling the whole truth. "I told you it was complicated. I didn't remember it until this morning." "Huh? Why not?" "You wouldn't beleive me. Hell, I'm not sure *I* beleive it." Akane was acting hurt and confused. Nabiki wished Kasumi was here, this was more her kind of thing. She sat down next to her sister and tried to think of something to say. She looked over at Akane and saw the shoulder bag again. "What's in the bag?" "Stuff. A blanket, some makeup and cloths, a little money. I had it when I saw Ranma last." "A memento. Did he give it to you?" "No, I bought it after...never mind." Nabiki shrugged mentally. She'd gotten some information, she'd get the rest later. For now she'd just sit with her sister and hope she felt better soon." * * * * Akane just stared out into the yard. She'd come here to think and found the shoulder bag and pendant next to the pile of broken bricks. Whatever was going, she was not going crazy or these wouldn't be here. She'd come here to be alone, but she was glad of Nabiki's company. These memories were a little more than she could really handle by herself. The hardest part was the feelings. The feeling of love she got when thinking about Ranma, the feeling of despare when thinking about how he'd died, the fierce determination to try to fix it she felt while traveling in the past, the odd mixture of romantic and maternal feelings she had while taking care of him when he was ten. It was overwelming, so much more than she'd ever felt before that she wasn't ready for it. And yet, there was strength there too, strength she needed to handle these feelings and decide what to do about it. It was as if she had gotten part of the older versions personality as well as her memories. A little of her soul. Nabiki, still sitting quietly next to her, suddenly shifted around. "What's that?" There was shouting coming from the house. Shouting that sounded like...Genma, Genma and Ranma. "Sounds like they're here." Akane said. "And not happy. Let's go check it out." They quickly made there way into the house. Akane couldn't make out the voices until they were just around the corner from the main room. "...pop, I told you I can't yet." "Boy, this is a matter of family honor! You *will* marry one of the Tendo girls." "Look, pop, I'll explain it again. I can't until I ask another girl. I promised. If you'd told me ahead of time I wouldn't have made the promise. It shouldn't be a big deal, she'll say no and then I can marry someone else." "Who is this girl?" Nodoka's voice said. "I met her in a snowstorm five or six years ago. You remember pop, you went to get supplies? She's the one that showed up and gave me the tent and stuff." "You said you didn't even know her name boy." "I don't. She said I'd see her again when I was sixteen. If I don't see her before I turn seventeen then I'll give up on it, until then I have to wait for Akchan." Akane could feel Nabiki's eyes on her. "Akchan?" She whispered. "That wouldn't be you would it?" Akane ignored her, she didn't want to miss this. "Give it up boy, five years and you haven't even seen her once." "Actually, pop I saw her about a month ago. She was the woman who pulled me back from the springs." There was a moments silence and Nabiki looked like she was going to step around the corner. Akane grabbed her arm and shook her head. Nabiki shrugged and crossed her arms. "Boy, that was an old woman, not a girl." Genma said, but his voice was quiet and he sounded a lot less sure. "She was dressed up like an old woman, but her wig wasn't even on straight. Once I realized that it was easy to recognize her." "Son, that was the same woman who stopped me from teaching you the cat fist." "Huh?" "When you were eight I was going to teach you the dreaded cat fist. She came along and knew some things about it that convinced me not to use it..." Akane snorted quietly. 'threatened' would be closer than 'convinced'. "...she also said she was from the future and her family name was 'Tendo'. She gave me good reasons to believe it too." Akane was flabergasted. She had dropped a few clues over the course of ten years and *Genma* had figured out most of what was going on? Either then man was smarter than he usually acted or the gods must hate her. She'd probably be best off telling them everything, or at least everything she remembered. "Akchan Tendo?" Kasumi's voice said. "I wonder if that could be my sister Akane?" Akane signed. Genma and Kasumi figured it out The gods *did* hate her. She stepped around the corner and cleared her throat. "Hi Ranma, I said I'd see you again when you were sixteen." * * * * Ranma whirred around. It *was* her, or sort of her. She looked younger this time, close to his own age. After seeing her in the old womans outfit he'd been a lot less sure about her age. She'd seemed no older than when he'd first seen her over five years ago, maybe even younger, but still, how could she be his own age? "Akchan?" "You can still call me that. My real name is Akane Tendo." "You look like Akchan, but you're too young." Ranma almost slapped himself, that sounded pretty bad, girls were supposed to be sensitive about their age. "It's kind of complicated, but I was older then." "Huh?" "It was me from about four years from now. I have her memories for some reason, but it didn't happen to me...yet." "You were the old woman who told me not to teach the cat fist?" Pop asked her. He sounded angry. "Yes, Genma. I was also the woman who bought Ukyou's families yatti and returned it before it started a feud with her family." Akane sounded even angrier than his father. "Ah...I see." Pop was sweating, there must be an interesting story there...hey! If that was the case she was the woman who gave him that book. He loved that book, it was his favorite until it fell into the ravine with their other supplies the day before that snow storm she saved him from. This might be a chance to check if she was really the same girl. "Hey, I never really did thank you for that book." She grinned at him. She had quite a smile, it made her whole face light up like the sun. "I knew you'd like it. Mostly adventure stories and all the kanji had hurigana, and worn enough so Genma wouldn't have any reason to try to sell it." "Man, you don't think much of pop do you?" "No I don't. It was his fault you died." His mom gasped. He didn't hear his father at all, knowing him he'd probably slipped out into the yard. "Maybe we'd better go someplace more private?" Ranma suggested. He didn't much like his father either, but there was no reason to upset his mom with all the things he'd done. "Sure, let's go out to the dojo." She said and turned and walked away. Ranma shrugged and followed her. "Be back in a few minutes." He said. "Take your time son." Mr. Tendo said weakly from his spot at the table. * * * * Akane stopped in the walkway to the dojo. She was amazed she'd managed to get through that. The swirl of emotions she'd been experiencing had gotten worse once she'd seen Ranma. The feelings she had for him were so intense she felt like she was going to burst. Not just love either, but jeolousy and annoyance, and pity, and just about every other feeling she'd ever heard of and some she couldn't name. She couldn't help it, it was all too much, and the tears started coming. Arms crossed over her chest and she hunched into herself. "Akchan? Oh man, are you okay?" Akane looked back at him. His face softened from a panicy look and he stepped up to her. "Akchan, can I help?" Need. She *needed* him to hold her, but he hardly knew her. What would he think if...with a half sob, half wail she threw herself at him. He caught her awkwardly and held her while she cried, trying to make little soothing noises. Somewhere along the line she fell asleep. * * * * Akane opened her eyes, she was laying on one of the mats in the dojo by the door into the walkway. "You feeling better now?" She turned her head. Ranma, of course. "How long was I out?" "Maybe fifteen minutes, plus about half an hour of crying. Your older sister came in to see how we were doing about ten minutes ago. I hope you don't mind me telling her what happened." "I guess not. I'm sorry about that, it's been a crazy day." "Yeah, tell me about it." Ranma said sourly. Akane sat up and wiped her face with her sleeve."So what did you want to talk about?" "Uh, well, I kinda promised myself that I'd ask 'Akchan' to marry me when I got older. That was before I realized how much older she'd be, but now I don't really know what to do. I guess what I want to know is if you're really her." Akane sighed, this was not going to be easy, she didn't even understand it. "That girl was Akane Tendo, me, when I'm about twenty years old. Only now that she's changed so much I don't think that me will ever exist. Maybe that's why I got her memories and...everything else." "So you're her?" "I'm...more her than anyone else will ever be." "Right, well I guess that will have to do." Ranma sat a little straighter and looked in her eyes. "Akchan, will you marry me?" "Umm..." she said. "I mean it. You saved my life and you said I could ask you and...and I guess it would be kind of nice." He looked away, blushing badly. "Are you sure about this? I know a lot about you, but you don't know that much about me." She blushed too, her memory was bringing up some rather intimite times they'd shared after he'd proposed to the other her. "Yeah, I'm sure." She moved right in front of him, both were now kneeling with only a hands breath separating them. "Yes, Ranma, I'd love to marry you." She watched his adams apple bob as he swallowed. He raised his head and looked into her eyes. They drifted closer, and kissed, briefly, softly, feather light. They looked into each others eyes again and sarted drifting closer for another try. "Akane! Ranma! Lunch will get cold if you don't hurry." "Uh..." Ranma said, pulling away suddenly. Akane giggled.. "We can try this again later, after all we're engaged now." "Yeah, I guess we are." He stood and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. She didn't let go of the hand as they walked into the house. * * * * Kasumi signed in exasperation. "Mr. Saotome, please leave your son's plate alone. I know you said you steal food from each other's plates for training, but you can't train him when he's not here." "Genma, you are embaressing yourself, me, and your family. Stop it now." Nodoka's voice was definitely not friendly. Kasumi couldn't blame her, if this man had been raising her son she had a long period of retraining him ahead of her. Ranma and Akane came into the room, and they were holding hands. That was...interesting. She'd have to talk to Akane later and see how she really felt about this Ranma. Maybe she shouldn't try to talk father into putting off the wedding after all. She'd better step up Akane's training in household duties too. "Well, you two seem to be getting along well." Nodoka had that smirk on again. She obviously didn't mind the two moving forward so fast on their relationship. Maybe she expected Akane to help her train Ranma back into civilized behavior? They blushed and let their hands drop. Akane pulled Ranma to the table and next to her normal place where their plates were waiting. Ranma began vacumming up the food at a rate that put his fathers disgusting performance to shame. Akane took a bite and elbowed Ranma at the same time. "Ack! What was that for." "Eat like a human, or if that's too much to handle like an animal that's not starving." Akane said firmly. "Hey! Who do you..." "She's right, son." Nodoka interrupted. "I'm afraid your father taught you a number of bad habits that we will have to break. Your eating habits are one of them. Watch how we eat and try to copy that instead." Kasumi nodded to herself. She was happy that Nodoka was backing up Akane. A good relationship with her future mother in law would make things much easier. Ranma grumbled but tried his best to mimic the way Akane was eating. She corrected him a few times, but didn't resort to any more elbows. As they finished her father straightened from his whispered conversation with Genma and spoke. "Well, I think we can take care of the engagement now." He said. "Uh, sorry, but I told you I had to ask Akchan to marry me first." "But now you know who she is, boy, Genma said, and..." "Don't you ever listen pop? I said it wasn't going to be a big deal, because I thought she was a lot older, but she's not. I asked Akchan....Akane, and she said 'yes'. So I'm already engaged pop." Kasumi blinked and just barely kept herself from saying 'oh my' again. "Well that was fast work." Nabiki drawled. "And here I thought you hated boys." "But, son, Akane is the one we were going to choose as your fiancee anyway." Nodoka said. "Well, that's good. I guess you're going to give us your aproval then?" Ranma had an impish grin when he said it. "Of course son. It's just that we expected to arrange the engagement." Nodoka looked a little confused and Kasumi had trouble keeping her face straight. This Ranma was going to be fun to have around. "Kinda too late for that. I guess you could force us to break our engagement, then reinstate it as an arragement between the families." Ranma said. Kasumi heard a brief giggle, but couldn't decide if it came from Akane or Nabiki. Nodoka's face relaxed. "Yes, we could do that." "Of course it would be about the silliest thing I've ever heard of. I mean the only reason you would do something like that is if you were more interested in controlling us than in the promise between the families or our happiness. There was an edge to Ranma's voice and he was staring at his mother. Nodoka stared back at him with a blank face. Then she smiled and laughed. "You're right son. There's no reason to do it that way. I was so ready to have to persuade you that I wasn't prepaired to simply let it happen." Kasumi smiled and went into the kitchen to get the surprise dessert she'd made. Ranma was clever, his rough speach hid a kean mind. He and Akane might be very good for each other. === End Part 2 ===