Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Sister, Sister ❯ Chapter 2

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tendo Dojo
Genma woke the next morning to find that his body would not respond to his commands. He tried to struggle for a few minutes then gave up, since he didn't seem to be getting anywhere. He decided that this would give him plenty of time to lay there and think about the past, something he hadn't done recently.
“That boy is gonna be the death of me yet. I mean look at what he did to me for nothing. It's not my fault the girl couldn't handle the training. Shouldn't have stopped. Yeah, if I hadn't stopped to tell her to go home, we would have gotten clean away, and I would have been able to train that boy to be even stronger than he is now! It's all her fault! Stupid Hikari! Why couldn't she just go back home? She should have stayed home and learned how to cook and be a good housewife. That girl as a martial artist? Yeah, right. Stupid girl. As if a weak girl could learn something like the neko-ken...”
As busy as he was in his ruminations, he didn't think to check if anyone else was in the room with him, nor did he notice that his entire train of thought was spoken out loud. The quick rustling of silk was not enough to get his attention. But the rasp of steel on steel certainly got his attention, and the feeling of a live blade being held against his neck kept it...


The early-morning quiet was disturbed by a knocking at the door. Kasumi went to answer, only to find Nodoka Saotome standing there. “Oh, my! Auntie Saotome! What a pleasant surprise! Have you had breakfast yet? It would be nothing to set a place for you.”
Nodoka smiled at Kasumi and answered, “I have not dined yet, and would be glad to join you for breakfast. Would you like some company in the kitchen while you finish up?”
Kasumi seemed taken back for a moment, then answered, “I would enjoy the chance to talk with you before breakfast.” The two walked into the kitchen, and Kasumi returned to her breakfast preparations while Nodoka found a chair to sit in while they talked about how life was at the dojo. When breakfast was finished, Nodoka asked if it would be alright if she told everyone about breakfast. Kasumi nodded, and Nodoka walked out of the kitchen. She noticed Soun at the table already, reading his morning paper, so she merely nodded at the Tendo patriarch and headed upstairs. The first door she came to opened as she was preparing to knock, and Akane stepped out of her room in her school uniform.
“Oh, Auntie, it's nice to see you here this morning.”
Nodoka smiled at the polite young girl and said, ”Breakfast is ready. If you hurry, you should just have time to wash up before breakfast.” The next door she happened on was that of Nabiki. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, then peeked in to find that Nabiki was not there. 'Maybe she's already up and downstairs somewhere?' Nodoka thought, then walked to the guest room to awaken her husband. She found him in his futon, covered from head to foot in bandages, and muttering something. She got close enough to hear, “...her fault! Stupid Hikari! Why couldn't she just go back home? She should have stayed home and learned how to cook and be a good housewife. That girl as a martial artist? Yeah, right. Stupid girl. As if a weak girl could learn something like the neko-ken...”
In a practiced motion, she unwrapped her sword and drew it from the scabbard, before pointing it at the neck of her unfortunate husband. “Genma, I'm going to give you one chance to explain yourself before I remove from your shoulders this weighty problem that you call a head.”

Nerima General Hospital, room 732
Ranma slowly awoke from his deep slumber to find himself still in the same chair that he fell asleep in, but something was different. His senses told him that there was a layer of cloth over his arms, and that he was extremely warm. 'I bet that nice doctor... What was her name? Oh, yeah, Doctor Kishiro. I bet she brought me a blanket.' As he was thinking this he looked around the room to find that the bed in front of him was empty. For a moment, he was startled, but that was nothing compared to how startled he was to hear a quiet sound coming from under the blanket. He nearly jumped out of his chair before looking down to see the blanket fall back slightly and a bandaged face slide out from underneath it. Looking at the same still-sleeping face he saw the night before, but in better light, was enough to let Ranma see how badly fragile his sister really looked. Ranma decided this would be a good time to put her back in her bed. It only took a moment and almost nothing of his strength. 'Man, she's so light.' He gently lay her back in her own bed and covered, all the while making sure to be careful of the various things attached to her. As he backed away, she mumbled something. This time, he clearly caught her saying his name, still with the same odd rumbling.
“Rrrranma... “ He smiled down at his sleeping sister before noticing that he really needed to go to the bathroom. His memories of the night before were vague, but he remembered seeing another door beside the door as he walked in. A moment later, he was done and walked back out after washing his hands to find Doctor Kishiro at the foot of Hikari's bed. The doctor caught sight of Ranma and quietly motioned him over.
“Ranma, I hate to ask you this, but I need to do a check-up on your sister. Could I get you to wait down the hall in the lounge, please? This should only take about 10 minutes or so. I'll come get you if she wakes up, okay?” A quiet nod from Ranma was answer enough as he padded out of the room in the general direction of the lounge. As he was passing the nurses station, he noticed that it was nearly time for school to start and also remembered that he hadn't practiced his martial arts today. 'Guess that's one good thing about Hi-chan being in the hospital. I get to skip out on school. Better not tell anyone about that though, or it'll be a malleting I won't soon forget... Speaking of malleting, I hope Akane doesn't try to make me a lunch...' These thoughts saw him out onto the roof, and a moment after that found him deep into his first kata. He had time to finish several more before he went back downstairs just in time to walk into Doctor Kishiro as she was walking out of the lounge. “Oh, there you are, Ranma. There's someone who wants to see you.” With that, Doctor Kishiro led Ranma back towards Hikari's room. “She woke up a minute or so after you left, and started crying. I don't know how she knew you had been there, but she wanted to know why you left her alone again.”
This brought them back to the door, where again, Doctor Kishiro had Ranma wait while she went in. He heard a soft conversation in the room, but could not make out the words. He was about to just bust in when a hand dropped out of nowhere and landed on his shoulder. He whirled around, expecting to find any one of his enemies, and was surprised to find a slightly tired-looking Nabiki looking back at him with a smirk on her face.
“Hello, Saotome. Thought I would find you here.” The smile faded and a more serious look came to Nabiki's face. “I'm not here to cause you any problems. I actually came this time just to talk.” A small smile crept into Ranma's face as he relaxed. Nabiki was something he could deal with. “Nabiki, I'm about to talk to my sister for the first time in over 10 years. If you would like, you can come, but no pictures and no embarrassing questions, okay?”
“Really, Ranma,” she said with a slightly sarcastic grin. “Would I do that?” Ranma laughed and turned back to the door to find Doctor Kishiro standing there watching them.
“If you are ready, you can come in now, but remember, keep it quiet, okay?” The doctor stepped aside and motioned them in. It was obvious that Ranma was a little nervous about this since, for a moment, he didn't move. But a weak voice saying “Rrrranma?” brought him to his senses, and he quickly walked into the room his sister was waiting in, ignoring everything and everyone around him and focusing on the source of that weak voice.
What he saw was enough to make anybody cry. Hikari looked to be struggling to sit up in her bed. Again, she said, “Rrrranma? Is that you?” Ranma was by her side in a moment, holding her up.
“Yeah, Hi-chan, it's me.” With those words, Hikari snaked her arms around Ranma, giving a weak hug that Ranma could barely even feel. Ranma hugged her back as Nabiki quietly slipped around to the other side of the bed and arranged the pillows so that Hikari could sit up. Ranma gently leaned Hikari back into the pillows, making her look even more fragile than she already appeared. Hikari didn't want to let go, so Ranma found himself leaning back into the pillows as well, and Nabiki quietly sat down in the nearby chair.
“Rrrranma, how did you get so big? And how did I?” Hikari seemed scared for a second but seemed to calm down when she didn't see her father. “Do you think Daddy's gonna throw us in the pit with the kitties again?” Ranma started, obviously not expecting the last question before steeling his resolve and promising Hikari,” I won't let him take you away again. If he wants to throw you in there again, he'll have to come through me!” For a second, Ranma's eyes flashed a dangerous red. Hikari's only response to this was to tighten her grip on Ranma. Then she began to purr.
After a moment of just quietly holding her brother and purring, Hikari wrinkled her nose and looked around the room. She finally saw Nabiki for the first time, and Ranma noticed Hikari's hold on him got just slightly tighter as she seemed to cringe away from the strange girl sitting so close to her.
“Hikari, this is Nabiki Tendo. She's a friend.” Nabiki raised an eyebrow at Ranma for this introduction before turning to Hikari and saying, “Nice to meet you, Hikari.” At that, Hikari smiled shyly, then turned back to Ranma and loosened her grip.
Nabiki smiled and said, “Have fun with your sister, Saotome. I have to get to school. I'll have Akane bring your homework to you here, okay?” Ranma's answer was immediate. “Um... Could you kinda bring them? I don't want Akane to come. Too many new people might scare her or something...”
“Sure, Saotome, I'll bring them for you. Just don't make it a habit.” With that, Nabiki got up and walked out the door. Ranma looked down at his sister to notice that she was asleep again, loosely hugging Ranma and still purring. Ranma looked up at a shuffle beside the bed, and saw Doctor Kishiro sitting in the chair that Nabiki had left.
“Ranma, since it looks like you are tied up right now, there are a few things I would like to talk with you about...”