Part Three, Chapter One: Life Ranma had been as surprised as Ryouga to find himself alive. Something soft that had broken his fall and saved his life had turned out to be a dried-up pond, which was mud during the dry season. There had been a farmhouse nearby, and the bewildered farmer, who had come outside to investigate the damage and try to find out why his land had abruptly lost a prominent landmark, had found Ranma on his land. He had woken Ranma up and tried to find out what had happened, but Ranma refused to have any of that and had immediately insisted that they begin a search for Ryouga.
And they had found her, limp and unconscious nearly a mile away in another field, lying half in an irrigation canal and looking mostly dead. It was entirely possible that Ryouga’s bright pink hair had saved her life.
The ambulance the farmer had called earlier for Ranma arrived fifteen minutes later and took both of them to the hospital. It was a long drive, and the chances they gave Ryouga’s survival weren’t good.
Ranma just smiled tiredly at the paramedics. “You’d be surprised… what he can live through…” he said, and promptly passed out. This confused the ambulance crew greatly.
It was entirely possible that the boy was delirious. After all, judging by his condition, he should have already been unconscious, if not dead… but the girl was simply a miracle. The chief paramedic, shaking his head sadly, voiced his prediction that neither of them would survive the drive to the hospital…
***
That paramedic was still half-convinced that he was dreaming. But no matter how many times he pinched himself, when he came to work the next day and checked on the two young people he had picked up the day before, the sight of them both calmly asleep and with steady vital signs just didn’t seem real.
He shook his head. “No way.”
***
Two days later Ranma was awake again. He was still bed-bound, and all four limbs were wrapped into unusability by layers of gauze and bandage, but he was awake – if somewhat groggy.
The doctors were annoying. The questions came slowly, but they were asked repeatedly until Ranma either gave an answer or convinced them that he didn’t know, both of which took more effort than he felt like using. “How do you feel?” “Who are you?” “Do you remember what happened?” “Who is the girl who was with you?” Ranma did his best to answer the questions that didn’t involve long drawn-out explanations, which basically meant that he told them that he was feeling much better, thank you, and gave them his and Ryouga’s names. For some reason they also felt obliged to ask if the two of them were married. Ranma gave that one a firm ‘no’ and glared at the doctor who asked it until he almost sheepishly rephrased the question into a query about their relationship, which got a better answer – ‘friends’. That was the last question, and soon afterward they filed out of his room, talking amongst themselves excitedly.
Ranma could hear the pair of nurses chittering outside even after the others had already left. Probably gossiping. He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping that the heat he felt was only because of the warm bandages and blankets that they saw fit to cover him with. He wriggled as best he could in the bed, trying to move. He had gathered the information that he’d been asleep for a few days from the bits of information that the doctors had tossed at him every so often, but he had no idea what Ryouga’s condition was. From the sound of it, she was still unconscious. Hopefully not dead. Something in the doctors’ attitudes implied that she wasn’t, but she most likely wasn’t awake yet, not if they were asking him her name.
Ranma yawned. He didn’t know how he could possibly be tired, but he somehow was – it was probably because of the injection that the doctors had given him. He had hardly noticed it; one had been asking him questions while the other stuck the needle in his arm.
That was… sneaky… of them…
Ranma fell asleep.
***
It was an agonizingly boring wait of three days after that – during which they still persisted with the questions - before he could finally cajole a doctor into allowing the nurse to pile him into a wheelchair and take him to Ryouga’s room. He protested he use of a wheelchair, but there would be no compromise.
The pink-haired girl’s room was eerily silent, far from the noisy center of the hospital. He didn’t ask for the name of the special ward that she was in.
“Ryouga?” He tried, tentatively, after a few seconds of motionlessness on her part. There was no answer.
“She’s been in a coma. It’s unlikely that she’ll wake up any time soon,” said the nurse, refusing to mention that it was unlikely that she would ever wake up at all. The boy looked sad enough, and he was still in bad shape. No need to make the situation worse.
Ranma shrugged. “He - she’ll be okay.” The nurse shook her head sadly at this, but he hadn’t looked up, and didn’t see.
He only had ten minutes, and the nurse was there the entire time, holding loosely onto the IV stand they kept attached to his left arm. He wished that he knew what the clear fluid constantly dripping into his arm was. ‘Saline solution’ was what they had told him, but in plain language that seemed to mean salt water – which didn’t make much sense.
Ryouga had three sterile bags hanging from the IV stand, twin to Ranma’s, that stood silent vigil over her bed. Only one was hooked up at the moment, the one with the same clear liquid as his. One was half-filled with a pale yellow liquid that seemed to contain motes of something that caught the light occasionally, and the other – Ranma refused to look at very closely. It was almost empty, but the thick red fluid inside persisted, sticking to the sides of the bag. The nurse took that one down and disposed of it, which helped.
They made him leave after precisely ten minutes, but promised he could stay longer the next day.
***
The next day he was allowed to stay for an hour, and after the first ten minutes the nurse was called away. Ranma leaned against the corner of the bed. The bandages wrapping his arms and legs had been removed, but there were still some covering a few of his worse wounds. He had seen them uncovered, when they were changing his bandages, and was glad that they weren’t visible.
He propped himself up on the corner of the bed, resting his chin in his hand. Ryouga just laid there, not moving.
“Y’know, you better live through this.” He paused, as if waiting for an answer. The words echoed slightly in the quiet room.
“I need you to tell me what’cha did. I felt Shishihoukodan energy, but there was somethin’ else. That wouldn’t’ve done what you did, not on it’s own.” The question had been bothering him for days. “What did you do?”
There was no answer, of course. “Well, I s’pose it can wait ‘til you’re better. For now… argh, this place is boring. I gave ‘em my name and yours but they can’t find anything like an address to call, ‘cause the only Ryouga Hibiki in their computer system is male, they think they’ve got someone else, or maybe there just isn’t anyone at your house – and I guess my address just isn’t listed with my name anywhere, Saotome’s a common enough name but Ranma’s not. It’s probably a good thing, I mean; I don’t want Akane here complaining at me…”
He babbled on in this vein for a few more minutes, talking about nothing and whatever came to mind.
Finally he ran out of things to say, and trailed off. He checked the clock. It had been about an hour, but no one came to collect him, so he could only assume that they had forgotten. He waited, bored, but at least the scenery was different. Ryouga had a window, of course, and it showed something rather more interesting than the wall that was Ranma’s view. The hospital, a surprisingly modern facility, was on the edge of the tiny town, whatever town it happened to be, next to a forest. It was a pretty forest, but that wasn’t the most interesting thing about the view. What was the most interesting thing was the fact that it was only a forest visible.
Even now, almost a week later, Ranma could still tell just by looking that this window used to offer a great view of Horaisan, off in the distance. The hills surrounding the place where the mountain had been were still visible, but there was a distinct gap in the middle. Ranma imagined that he could still see black smoke curling up from the ruins, but of course that was impossible. All the remnants of that day had long dissipated – except, of course, the obvious lack of Horaisan.
The hospital people had been surprisingly uninquisitive about the events that had led to the destruction of the mountain, even though it was obvious their patients must have had something to do with it. Ranma got the distinct impression that there was media pressuring to speak with him, but he’d asked not to see anyone like that, and to keep their names confidential. So far, they hadn’t been bothered, and he could only assume that the hospital was keeping up the second part of the bargain too.
He was half-asleep, leaning against Ryouga’s bed, when he felt a twitch, and snapped back awake. Or at least to some groggy sense of coherency. “Ryouga?”
There was a groan from the pink-haired girl, and she moved – almost wriggled, sliding limbs against the bed as if she was in pain. Which she probably was. There was a few seconds of this – then her eyes cracked open. And immediately pressed closed again, accompanied by another groan.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Ranma stated the obvious.
Ryouga froze for a split second, then her eyes snapped open again, and rolled down as far as they could, trying to see the origin of the voice. “R-Ranma?”
Ranma chuckled to cover the immense wash of relief that suddenly hit him. “Yeah, it’s me. Who’d you expect?”
Ryouga struggled, trying to sit up.
“Hey hey, don’t do that,” said Ranma, trying to stop her from moving too much. “You’re not in good shape. The nurse’ll be here soon, I’m su…”
The door slammed open and the nurse half-ran in, giving Ranma an angry glare as she reached him. She rolled his wheelchair to the other side of the room. Ranma didn’t see very well what happened next, but it involved the doctor, a flurry of note-taking, and questions that made Ranma roll his eyes, reminding him distinctly of when he woke up at first. Sure, it was a miracle that they were alive, but miracles happened every day. Can’t they just leave it alone?
It was a good fifteen minutes before they settled down. Ranma rolled himself closer to Ryouga. Ryouga had obviously figured out the situation by this point, and was submitting to the examination with obvious reluctance. She spied Ranma coming into her field of view, and gave him a glare that said, as clear as any words:
You better tell me what the hell happened.
Ranma nodded, ever so slightly, with a half-smile coming to his face as he responded silently,
Yeah yeah, sure – but you gotta fill me in too.
***
However, no amount of asking on their parts would convince the nurse to let Ranma stay, and he was wheeled back to his room, protesting the entire way.
Or at least he was still protesting when his complaints faded from Ryouga’s hearing. Ryouga sighed.
A hospital. Oh well. I’m alive. It was strangely empty thought. Everything’s over. We failed. The Kaisufuu’s destroyed. She could remember clearly, almost too clearly, what had happened. She’d been climbing the rocks, almost giddy with how close she was to success, and found a crack in the stone big enough to reach her hand into. She had found something, even, grasped something thin and metallic – the handle, obviously - when Herb had grabbed her neck and pulled her away from the stone, holding her in midair by the throat.
Wait.
I still had the handle in my hand when I came to – which means… she couldn’t quite think of the next logical step in the sequence - her mind was too fuzzed with whatever medicine it was the doctor had given her. It was obviously something rather potent, and was making her exhausted. With little preamble, she soon fell asleep again.
She solved the mystery in her dreams, but forgot when she woke up again the next day.
***
Ranma woke up with a start, shouting something incoherent. There had been a dream – but three seconds in the dark stillness of the hospital room drained away the memory. He wiped cold sweat off his forehead, the only remnant of the dream – or nightmare – other than a disconcerting feeling deep in the pit of his stomach.
He laid back down. There seemed to be little reason to stay up. He squinted at the clock. It was after one am. He sighed, no longer tired in the least. He had been asleep for about twelve hours already, after all. The hospital seemed to like making him sleep. It was better than the mind-numbing boredom of staying awake, at least…
He shifted, trying to get into a more comfortable position, since it looked like sleeping was the only viable option at the moment. The hospital was dead silent in the middle of the night – a beam of light snuck its way into his room through the crack under the door, and that was the only sign that there was life anywhere in the building.
Ranma rolled unto his back, and sighed faintly. Looking up all he could see was the black ceiling. Sleeping was a simple impossibility – he had been doing almost nothing but sleeping for the past few days, and his body was firm in his insistence to stay awake. Besides, the thoughts wouldn’t leave him alone…
Their chance at a cure for Ryouga had failed, crushingly. He’s trapped forever, now… he was surprised at the sympathetic pain the thought brought, a sudden tense pain in his throat. What… what’s going to happen now? What will he do? Will he keep trying to kill himself? Eventually he’ll succeed… What will I do? Ranma’s hand clenched the sheet at his side. Should I keep stopping him? Should I let him have what he wants? Would I want to die, in his place? Ranma doubted it. I’m not sure I even understand… and I can’t let him die…
It was the understanding that made it so uncomfortable, Ranma suddenly realized. He had never experienced the same hopelessness as Ryouga did now… but he had come close. Very close – although of course he had never shown it. Ryouga’s always been more open than me. I can’t show weakness, can’t cry… but he can. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, right there for anyone who wants to look. Even when he wants to hide his feelings, he can’t… but now he’s different. He’s trying to hide things from me, and I can tell there’s something there… but not what. It had been frustrating Ranma ever since Ryouga had appeared that day on the streets of Nerima. He gave up the old secret when he told Akane he loved her, but now there’s a new one, something he won’t tell me and I can’t figure it out. Maybe he’s just more reserved now… but that doesn’t seem right…
He sighed, rolled onto his side, and stared at the wall for a few more minutes before falling asleep again, his thoughts no clearer than before.
***
Back in Nerima:
“No explanation has yet been found for the mysterious explosion of Horaisan. The two potential witnesses found near the scene are still hospitalized and unavailable for questioning.” After several days of nothing new – the exhaustive search of the rubble that was the mountain had yet to produce any results - the short blurb was the only update on the situation on the official news. There was massive noise about the event available on other programs, but it was all speculation and theory, in the end, and none of it came close to what Akane believed was the truth anyway.
She sighed and turned off the television. The two witnesses they kept talking about had to be Ranma and Ryouga. But there was nothing they could do. Because of the widespread news stories, the hospital simply wasn’t accepting any calls with regards to the witnesses, not yet at least, and even the media couldn’t get its hands on the names. Apparently they were still in bad condition, which was worrying.
At least, she hoped that the two people everyone kept talking about. It could just as easily be two of the Musk Dynasty members. Akane chose not to think about that possibility.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a great clattering noise from the kitchen, and a shout of surprise in Kasumi’s voice. Akane jumped up and ran to see what had happened.
“The shelf broke…” her older sister had already fetched a broom and was beginning to sweep up the great mess that was most of the dishes they owned smashed to shards on the tile floor.
Even as Akane ran to grab a dustpan and help clean, there was another shout, although this one was more like a curse.
“My sandal!” That was Genma’s voice. Akane didn’t bother to investigate.
Kasumi shook her head.
“You don’t actually believe in bad omens, do you sister?” Akane asked, trying to be lighthearted although she wasn’t sure she wasn’t starting to believe herself. Just minutes before the news broadcast had aired about Horaisan for the first time, the shelf holding up the Tendo family shrine had broken. Strange things had been happening ever since… it was probably coincidence, but it still bugged her where she wouldn’t admit it, and didn’t reassure her at all about the condition of Ranma and Ryouga.
Kasumi didn’t pause in her sweeping. “We’ll just have to wait and see…” she looked up at her sister. “Don’t worry too much, Akane,” she reassured her. “I’m sure he’s just fine.”
Akane snorted. “I’m not worried about that jerk!” It was a blatant lie – but Kasumi was kind enough not to point that out.
***
Returning to the main story… at a hospital, somewhere in the middle of Japan:
It was another week before Ryouga could walk again. Ranma spent the entire time allowing the doctors to keep him drugged, not letting them know that he didn’t need it anymore. Everyday, he visited Ryouga, each day for a little longer. He was always a bit giddy from the drugs, never entirely coherent, but he preferred it that way.
But every night, the drugs would wear off faster than the doctors realized. And on that day, when during his visit to Ryouga he could tell that she was healed enough, he slipped out of bed, ignoring the protests of his body claiming it was tired, and carefully creaked open the doors.
The security of the hospital didn’t have a chance. Ranma wasn’t exactly a ninja, but he knew how to be silent, and the hospital wasn’t expecting anything from him – after all, he’d been such a good patient up until that point. It was a simple task for him to sneak into Ryouga’s room.
He hadn’t been expecting there to be a nurse standing watch over her, scribbling something into a notepad, so he was noticed when he slipped inside. There was no choice - he knocked her unconscious, gently. He felt a twinge of guilt, but knew there was no other option – even if Ryouga didn’t agree, they would have to escape now. If they were still there when the nurse awoke, they would put him under tighter security and he didn’t want to have to fight his way out of a hospital.
He leaned down and shook Ryouga’s shoulder. “Hey, wake up!” he whispered in her ear, and her eyes snapped open.
“Wha… Ranma?” She blinked rapidly, trying to wake up on sudden notice. “What are you doing?”
“Shh!” he held a finger to his lips. “We’re gettin’ out of here,” he whispered.
Ryouga just stared at him for a moment. “Are you insane?” she whispered back, fiercely.
“No,” Ranma answered slowly, straightening. “I’m right. We’ve gotta leave. If we lived Herb did too, you know I’m probably right. And if she’s alive, she’s gonna come after us. I don’t want to get the hospital caught in the crossfire. Horaisan was remote. This place isn’t. Now c’mon, I know you’re better now.”
“I…” Ryouga hesitated. “You’re right.” She nodded curtly, pulling herself shakily to her feet.
“Can you do this on your own?” Ranma asked, placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She pushed it off.
“Of course.”
They left. It was a surprisingly simple job to climb out the window and to freedom, even with Ryouga’s condition the way it was. The only thing they took with them was a bag that the hospital had collected of Ryouga’s belongings – a few things that had been found scattered about the countryside that were presumably from her pack. Ranma had managed to collect real clothing on his trip to Ryouga’s room from a cart full of clean laundry, and they were nondescript enough in pale jeans and white t-shirts not to be questioned by anyone as they simply walked out of the town along a convenient highway, following the signs to Tokyo.
***
“What did you do?” Ranma didn’t wait very long before asking the question. “It’s been buggin’ me. I mean – you destroyed a mountain.”
Ryouga didn’t look at him, keeping her eyes fixed on the road ahead instead. “Breaking point,” she answered simply.
“Bakusai Tenketsu…” Ranma murmured to himself. “How did that…”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, now, or at least she may have been looking at him. He wasn’t quite sure, and it was mildly disconcerting. “I also used the Shishihoukodan.”
Ranma nodded at that. “I felt that. So that’s what you used on Herb… I guess… it was a strong one, and the mountain couldn’t withstand just broke apart under the pressure…?” Ranma didn’t quite believe his reasoning as he said it.
Ryouga shook her head. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I said I used the Bakusai Tenketsu. And the Shishihoukodan.”
“Ah…” For a moment, he was confused. Then it clicked. “You mean you linked them!?”
Ryouga nodded, the slight curl of a smile twitching on the edges of her expression. “Yeah. Right under Herb. The blast was supposed to go up, but… I guess you were right, the mountain was already shaken by everything that had already happened, so it exploded instead. Or I actually managed to hit the breaking point of the mountain itself. I can’t remember, exactly.”
Ranma couldn’t think of a response to that for a moment. “That’s…” Ryouga’s expression froze. Ranma hesitated, confused by the sudden draining of expression from her face. “…pretty damn cool,” he finished a moment later.
The half-smile returned, and grew a little. “Thanks.”
Wha… what was that all about? Ranma couldn’t remember Ryouga ever reacting like that before. But… it was almost like he was afraid of what I was going to say.
“Ryouga…” he trailed off, wondering why he was saying this. “I’m sorry.”
Ryouga froze. Ranma had to stop so he wouldn’t leave her behind. “Sorry for what? It was my fault.”
What? “It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” he contradicted her. “But… I said I’d do whatever I could to help you, and I didn’t. And I’m sorry I failed.” It was hard to apologize, harder to admit failure. But he had meant his promise – and Ranma Saotome kept promises.
Ryouga, unexpectedly, started walking again. “It’s not your fault,” she repeated. “I knew it was impossible, but I risked your life anyway.” She walked faster than before.
He jogged a little to catch up with her, falling into step just behind her. “You just won’t stop, will you?”
Ryouga didn’t answer.
“It’s always you. Never let anyone else try anything, it’s always Ryouga, a one-man island…”
“One-woman island, you mean,” Ryouga interrupted.
Ranma dismissed that with a wave. “Doesn’t matter…”
“How can you say that?” Ryouga asked, anger spilling into her voice. “How can you – of all people – say that doesn’t matter?”
“It doesn’t! Look, I’ve been stuck too, I’m sure we’ll find another way to cure you-”
“And what if we don’t?”
“We’ll…”
“You can’t say that… but I know what I’ll do.”
“Ryouga, suicide’s not-”
She whirled, suddenly, and in a flurry of pink hair Ryouga was facing Ranma. They were almost nose-to-nose – would have been if it weren’t for their height difference. He barely avoided walking into her, but managed to stop just before impact. Ryouga didn’t move, not even to flinch. “Suicide… it’s kinda like a cheat, isn’t it? I’ve almost died enough times now to realize that it wouldn’t really solve anything except making you feel bad and trapping me as a girl forever in hell. Besides, my ancestors must be protecting me, because no matter how many times I try I just can’t kill myself. So…” she blushed faintly, smiled even less noticeably. “I shouldn’t make the same mistake twice…”
Ranma had been wondering why she wasn’t backing away from their close proximity, but at least now that was explained.
Because while it was a very light touch, that was most definitely a kiss…
***
~Mordain
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