Chapter Five: News From Afar

Four months later...

"Girls! Mr. Tendo! Dear! We have another letter from Akane and Ranma. And a postcard, from those other two," said Mrs. Saotome cheerily as she walked into the dining room. They had been receiving the letters at least once every two weeks for quite a while now, and generally one person would read it aloud to everyone else once it was received, before Mr. Tendo stored them in a box in his private room. The letters were never very long, though. However the frequency, and regularity, was more important to her then the amount said. As long as the letters came regularly, she knew they were alright, and not so distracted that they forgot about their families.

The postcards had started arriving not long after Akane and Ranma had left, and were curious. She didn't know the two who wrote them, but they came almost as frequently as the letters, and the rest of the family knew well enough who they were. Friends of Ranma and Akane; Ukyo and Ryoga. Their postcards often came with packages of food, or souvenirs, as did this time. She had left the large box at the door, not wanting to drag it in herself.

"Oh, good. Would you please read them to us, Mrs. Saotome?" asked Kasumi as the others turned to Nadoka. Nabiki was leaning against a wall, pretending not to look interested. Her own husband and Mr. Tendo had stopped playing Go long enough to look over, but were still sitting near the board, not trusting each other enough to walk away.

Sitting down at the table, she put the postcard down for now, and opened the letter first. Even the stamp on the envelope didn't give them away; they had a friend somewhere in Japan that they were sending the letters to first, and after that it was sent to them in a different envelope. Nadoka had suspected it was actually Dr. Tofu, but never voiced her thoughts. Ranma and Akane wanted their privacy, and she wasn't one to try and take it away.

"It looks like Akane wrote this time. Ranma's writing is usually clearer, but he doesn't say much when he does write. Hmm...she says, "We're still in the same town as the last letter, and we've had a stroke of luck. After all our time traveling, and searching, and trying to find a decent job, we have found a dojo that is willing to give us work for a few months. It was recently challenged, and all three of the Master's top students were wounded. The Master, Tomo Jinsuke, needed help teaching the other students, and Ranma happened to see the listing in the local newspaper. At first he was hesitant to take us in, especially since Ranma accidently kicked a hole in the side of the dojo. But we fixed it, and both of us took on the Master, barely defeating him. I suspect he went easy on us near the end, though. He hired us right then, and we've been working for about a week now. We're staying in an apartment in his house, on the upper floor. It's small, but cozy, and we're happy with what we've got. I'm looking into classes at the local college, but for now teaching and fighting is taking up most of our time. We hope that you're all doing well, and Ranma sends his love. Well, he didn't actually say that, but that doesn't matter. Take care." Then she signed her name at the bottom. Oh, she got Ranma to sign it too. How nice," commented Nadoka, passing the note along to Kasumi.

"A dojo, is it? I wonder what sort of martial art they practice," said Mr. Tendo, rubbing his chin. He was getting a lot calmer about the whole ordeal; for the last two letters, he hadn't even cried until the letter was passed on to him. She suspected he would this time, as well, but his calm as the letter was being read showed that he was slowly starting to accept that Akane and Ranma had run away together, and were actually alright. Nadoka just wished, for herself, that they would give some sort of indication as to when they would come back.

"If my son writes the next one, he'll tell us. Fighting is his life, after all," commented Mr. Saotome, with an air of pride. Nadoka nodded, then picked up the postcard. It had a picture of a large, red leaf on the back of it. Looking at it curiously, she turned it around, scanning the handwriting. The boy had written first; below, the girl had written as well, in a different coloured pen.

"Alright, Ryoga starts first here. "Dearest Akane...and Ranma. Ukyo and I have crossed into Iceland. It's an odd place here, though the people are friendly. They speak two languages, neither being Japanese. Luckily though, Ukyo knows enough English to get us by, and I'm slowly learning some too. I hope you're both doing okay...I'm sorry if we missed the wedding already, but Ukyo insists that we can't leave yet. Her okonomiyaki is so popular here that she's talked at least three times of opening a chain. I know she doesn't mean it though. I've heard her mutter more about how much she misses home, and can't wait to get back to Japan when the tourist season is over. Oh, they make a lot of something called maple syrup here, it's really good, especially on cakes and breakfast food. We sent lots, so enjoy. I'm going to let her write now." Then he signed it Ryoga Hibiki. Iceland? Hmm, they've gone a long ways from home. He doesn't say much about it, though. Well, onto Ukyo. "Dear Ranma-honey...and Akane. We are not in Iceland. Ryoga is glaring at me, and shaking his head, because he is in denial. We could have been in Iceland, if we had gone west, but we didn't. We went east. Of course, if we continued going east for long enough, we'd be in Iceland, but we'd have to go east a long, long way. Don't believe Ryoga. Anyway, since the last postcard, we left Russia, heading through some very cold islands on a small helicopter into a place called Alaska. Why were we on the helicopter? Well...I promised Ryoga that I would never speak of it, but when we get back, I might tell you if he says it's okay. Either way, you know that country above the USA, that's always on that channel that goes on about places to visit? Canada? We're there, now, in a province called Alberta. Canadians really seem to love their okonomiyaki. Japanese food is a trend lately, for some reason. Anyway, I'm running out of space. Enjoy the maple syrup." She signed her name Ukyo Kuonji," said Nadoka, with a small smile, "Canada. A friend of mine went there, once, I think."

"It sounds like they're also having a wonderful time," commented Kasumi, taking the postcard and reading it. She had already passed the letter on to Nabiki, who was reading it slowly, a smile on her face.

"Indeed. I wonder what Akane and Ranma will think of all the postcards, when they get back," said Nadoka, standing up and walking towards the kitchen.

No forwarding address, no phone number, no calls...kids these days. Or are they kids, anymore?

However Nadoka found herself smiling as she picked up the dirty dishes around the counter and put them into the sink for washing.

"Well...you're only young once. I Wouldn't want to make them feel rushed."

Humming a tune, she began her wash, silently thinking back to her own adventures when she was young. It had seemed so long ago, and yet...but she didn't let herself dwell. It was Ranma's turn for the unpredictable enthusiasm of youth, and she didn't want to deny him of it by even the slightest. They were happy, they were safe, and they were well. When it came down to it, that's all that they could hope for. Who needed anything else, at their age? The wedding and life at the dojo could wait. It would wait, too, for as long as they needed.

"Ranma...Akane...take care of each other." said Nadoka silently. Then she went back to her humming, basking in the light of the sun piercing through the kitchen window. She hoped it was a sunny day wherever it was they were, too.