On a small, tree-covered hill in a park, Akane glanced worriedly from where she sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, down at the buxom redhead lying and staring blankly up into the open sky. After a moment, the youngest Tendo looked away, her thoughts returning to her own new but now wellworn rut. Two — Ranma and Ryoga both, she thought yet again, still in shock at the news she’d barely remembered to ask Ku Lon as the two left the Cat Café.
And then there were all the girls that had gotten Ranma before he’d ever reached her, Hinako, Ukyo, Kodachi, Miyo, her older sisters, and more, and all of them almost certainly pregnant and not yet knowing it. There’s going to quite a run on abortions, Ranma and I should get in line early, before most realize what’s happened, Akane thought yet again, but again made no move to shake Ranma from her reverie.
“Well, so much for keepin’ that oath,” Ranma suddenly muttered, the first words she’d said since reluctantly telling Akane of all the other girls on their way to the park.
“What was that, Ranma? What oath?” Akane asked, eyes shooting back to her fiancé.
Ranma sat up, a hand unconsciously rising to her midsection, then she pulled her knees up to her chest. “I swore I’d never do ta my kids what Mom an’ Pop did ta me,” she said, staring down at the unusually empty park. “Treat my kids like tools, just tossing them away. No, I was gonna make sure they were taken care of, rasied right. Now, there’s no way I can do that — there’s just too many, and I’m gonna have ... my own, and ... and I don’t know how ...”
She started to shake, and Akane quickly pulled the shuddering girl into a hug. After a moment, she whispered, “Ranma, you — we’re so young, too young, you’re not really a girl, the morning after pill probably wouldn’t work but we can get abortions ...”
Ranma stiffened for a moment, then Akane felt her shake against her shoulder. “No, Akane, no abortion — not fer me. A martial artist protects the helpless an’ innocent, an’ there’s nothin’ more helpless an’ innocent than a baby.”
Akane froze. Did he just ... ? Oh, damn, now I can’t ... Forcing herself to relax, she sighed. “Then I won’t, either.”
“Akane, I ... I’m not tryin’ ta force ya to —” Ranma got out, but broke off when Akane turned her head and lightly kissed her on the forehead.
“I’m not going through our lives together having you thinking I killed your baby,” she whispered. “So we’ll just have to have our babies together.” With a shaky laugh, she added, “Maybe there being two of us will help make up for the fact that neither of us know anything about raising kids!”
“Well, there’s always Kasumi, I’m sure she’ll be happy ta help,” Ranma muttered, chuckling slightly herself.
Haven’t quite thought this through, have you, love? Big sis is going to have her own problems, her own decision to make, Akane thought wryly as she tightened her hug and the two girls simply sat for a time. Finally, Akane sighed and broke off the embrace. “Come on, Ranma, we should head home. By now, Kasumi and Nabiki will be worrying about us.”
Ranma barked a laugh. “Kasumi, sure, but Nabiki?” But she rose to her feet alongside her lover, and the two headed down the hill.
“Tadaima!” Akane called as the two girls switched out of their outdoor footwear.
“Oh, you’re home! Come here, the family room!” they heard Kasumi call out.
They exchanged glances. Ranma shrugged and headed for family room with Akane in her wake only to freeze in the room’s doorway. “Mom!” the redhead exclaimed, eyes wide. “Wh-what are ya doin’ here?”
The auburn-haired woman kneeling at the low table was her usual impeccable self, but she looked ... tired, beaten down somehow, something was wrong. And kneeling next to her was Kumon Ryu? What was going on?
Nodoka smiled stiffly, then frowned. “It is good to see you again, my son. I am here to ... discuss something touching on our family’s honor with your father. But ... why are you in your girl form?”
“Uh ...” Ranma stared at the two, barely even noticing Kasumi sitting to the side acting the good hostess, as she stepped into the room, making room for Akane to enter behind her. “Well, I gotta problem, too, it’ll take a few months ta work out —” Suddenly, she stiffened as realization hit. Staring at Ryu, her hands curled into fists. “You were at Mom’s place yesterday, when the city turned inta an orgy, weren’t you?” she demanded.
The blood draining from Ryu’s and her mother’s faces confirmed her guess, and Ranma tensed to launch herself at the boy even as he leaped to his feet, only to freeze as memories of what he’d experienced — what he’d done — the previous day rose in her mind. Slowly, she stepped forward and knelt across from her mother, motioning Ryu back down. “Not yer fault, not yesterday, nobody was in control, there’s ... there’s no dishonor,” she managed to get out through gritted teeth. Even though Mom’s probably, pregnant, too ... oh, damn, she’s not gonna take that well.
“Thank you for that,” Nodoka said, smiling weakly as Ryu slowly knelt down again, Akane doing the same beside her fiancé. “But I’m afraid that will be your father’s decision. Now, what is this problem you have, that will take a few months to work out? Are you locked again?”
“Uh, well, yeah, I’m afraid so,” Ranma mumbled, looking down at the table. “Well, ya see ... it’s ... I’m ... we’re ...”
The sound of someone at the door interrupted her, and she breathed a sigh of relief as Kasumi hastily rose and hurried from the room. A few minutes later, the eldest Tendo returned, accompanied by an attractive middle-aged blue-haired woman, Nabiki with them. “Everyone, we have another guest,” she announced. “This is Dr. Saeko Mizuno, she says she has news of the fathers.”
The stranger winced slightly, but calmly knelt at the table and accepted a cup of tea from Kasumi.
Finally, courtesies exchanged, Dr. Mizuno put down her teacup as everyone felt the tension mounting.
“You said you had news of my husband, Genma Saotome?” Nodoka inquired politely.
Dr. Mizuno nodded, but said nothing for a long moment. Finally, with a grimace she said, “You’d think I’d be used to this by now, after all these years as a doctor.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “Were all of you affected by whatever hit Tokyo yesterday?” Looking around at all the nods, she continued, “So were my friend, Ikuko Tsukino and me, and like so many others we ended up in bed with complete strangers — Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo. Only, when Ikuko and I woke up this morning ... they were both dead.”
For a long moment, the words didn’t register. Then they hammered home, and Kasumi gave a cry before slumping over in a faint, to be caught by a wide-eyed Nabiki.
“No ...” Akane whispered, before turning to bury her face against Ranma’s shoulder, the redhead’s arm circling her fiancée even as she stared wide-eyed at Dr. Mizuno.
Pop ... gone? Just like that? But how ... ? “How?” she asked. “Pop’s been gettin’ a little lazy, lately, but he was still in better shape than just about everybody, how could he just ... just drop dead like that?”
“I don’t know, any more than I know why so many other men have died,” Dr. Mizuno mused sadly, eyes gazing off into nothing. “My friend’s husband didn’t make it, either. I’m afraid she didn’t take it well. She’s currently under sedation ...”
“Other men? What other men?” Ranma asked, bewildered.
“Uh, Ranma, it’s been on the news,” Nabiki said hesitantly as she gently lay Kasumi down across her lap. “A lot of men died last night. Not many teenagers, but the older the man the more likely he was not to wake up this morning. I ... I didn’t mention it earlier because you and Akane had your own problems and there was nothing we could do anyway, no way to know where ... where the fathers were ...” her face crumpled for a moment before she forced it into an expressionless mask. “One more thing for you to be angry with me about, I’m sorry.”
After a moment Ranma shook her head. “Nah, like ya said, nothin’ I could do, we had our own problems. An’ speakin’ of that, I have news of my own.”
“Ranma, not right now, with a guest —” Akane started, breaking off when Ranma shook her head.
No, Dr. Mizuno needs ta know, too, since she was with one of the fathers last night. Hell, everyone’s gonna know soon enough.” Turning to the rest of the confused women in the room, she continued, “Ya see, there’s something else screwy about yesterday ...”
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(Posted Mon, 03 May 2010 02:47)
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