Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, I only rent him.
A/N I just wanted to respond to one review that might explain a couple of things about this story.
Anne: You asked if Nakama had a Japanese meaning and it does. I found the word while watching the anime (fan subbed of course) One Piece. The words means Peer, Comrade, Brother, Equal... You get the drift.
Thinking about the word while reading some Ranma Fanfiction (Friendly Innortal plug here) I remembered that in the Cannon Ranma story Ranma never had anyone in his life that the word would apply to. Oh he had friends, he had family, but I think everyone knows that type of friend that you would call your Nakama. Someone you would drop everything for just because they needed you.
I read had yet another Fanfic caught on to the idea of how Ranma and Akane were so much alike, the only difference being which father raised which one. I wondered how people with the personalities of the other two Tendo sisters might have handled things.
Unfortunately, losing their mother at an early age was a large part of the Tendo sister's personalities as it helped them define their own personal roles in life.
Sorry to rant like this. Without further interruptions...
Chapter 6 Waking up
Nakama slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. He was in a hospital room. He was lying down. He was alive. There was no one here. He was still alive.
"Damn it."
Nakama hated owing somebody. Nabiki had saved his life. Nakama looked around the room again as he heard a toilet flush. A moment later Ranma entered the room, leaving the room's private bathroom. The two boys locked eyes for a second.
"Hey Nakama. Mom wanted to be here, but pops and Yoshi talked her into going home and getting some sleep."
"Can we just get the hell out of here now?"
Ranma just grinned at his dimensionally challenged brother. He nodded, handed Nakama some clothes, and then both boys proceeded to leave the hospital. They had a little trouble from the doctors now wanting Nakama to leave, considering his injuries last night, but a quick check up assured the doctors that Nakama was fit to check out.
Ranma looked over to his brother as they started walking home. He noticed that Nakama had something on his mind.
"You hungry Nakama?"
Nakama looked over and noticed Ranma motioning towards a simple ramen shop. He nodded and picked up a paper from a machine as they entered. Both boys walked to a table along the side wall and waited for the cook to take their order.
"Yes sirs. What can I get for you?"
Ranma glanced at the simple menu for a moment before he ordered.
"I'd like two double sized house specials please."
The cook nodded, happy with the boys orders when the other young man spoke.
"Sounds good to me Ranma. I'll have the same sir."
The cook turned back towards the boys to see them going about their business. That was a LOT of food that they had just ordered. Oh well, if they wanted to waste their money. The cook shrugged and got back to work.
Ranma watched as Nakama opened the paper and appeared to start reading. After a moment, Nakama started squinting. Finally Nakama released a defeated sigh and reached into his pockets and removed his reading glasses. Nakama kept them in an impact resistant container so that they wouldn't be broken so easily in a fight. He just hated having to wear them.
"Hey, Nakama. What happened last night?"
Nakama looked up from a financial reports and looked at his little brother's 'copy'. He knew that Ranma wouldn't push it if he didn't want to talk, but felt that he owed Ranma an explanation.
"Ranma, you know about that training trip your father took you on for ten years?"
Ranma blinked. He hadn't actually expected an answer at all. This one didn't really start out as he had expected. Ranma nodded and waited for Nakama to continue.
"Well in Yoshi and my world, our mother passed away about the time you left on your trip. Training the three of us was probably the only thing that kept our father together. But everyones gotta eat. We all chipped in to support ourselves on the road, but I eventually found some ways to make money fast. These ways were mainly arranged fights. Father and Yoshi were not too happy about it, both pretended to not know what was going on. Yoshi took on the role of care giver as we got older so that Dad could concentrate more on our training. It was my little brother that was able to convince me that I could do what I was doing with out damaging my honor.
"I never bullied my opponents. I always made sure that they knew how skilled I was. I never killed. And I never forced an opponent to fight me. I was fighting in underground tournaments. It was all a show, but one where the best fighter was the crowd favorite. That soon became me, there and here."
Ranma looked at his brother's eyes and saw the honesty there. After a minute he spoke.
"It ain't right taking advantage of the weak like that."
"Ranma, they aren't weak. I've met fighters in the underground that are unlike anything you've ever met. Some are only there to find people like themselves and us. True masters of the art like ourselves are becoming legends and old fashioned. The guys I fought last night got too many good hits in. I might have just left to get some treatment, but I found out Nabiki was there and I had to get her out safely."
Ranma bowed his head.
"Sorry, big brother."
Nakama felt a stab in his heart at hearing Ranma call him brother. Nakama still wanted to keep this Ranma separate from his little brother. Yet things were starting to work against him. He still had his reason for doing everything he did, but it was times like this he was forced to realize that he had no definite goals in mind.
The clouds outside the window darkened a moment. Nakama spared it a glance as he felt a slight chill pass down his spine. Something was coming.
OOOOO
Nabiki walked back from the school campus slowly. She had just come from another meeting with her subordinates. The news and financial reports had all been highly favorable, but lately for Nabiki it was all just for show. All of her needs for money had been taken care of in one mighty blow by Nakama.
'I remember your mother... I never realized how much I missed having a mother until she took us into the dojo...'
Nakama had been staying at the Tendo's for weeks, but that last comment was the first time Nabiki saw any honest emotion enter Nakama's eyes. It was the first sign of affection that the young man had shown.
Nabiki was brought out of her thoughts as she looked up and saw Ryouga walking around. As usual, he seemed to be looking for someone. She walked up to him and figured that this could be worth a little pocket change. Besides, this could be interesting.
"Hello Ryouga. Looking for someone?"
Nabiki smirked as the Eternal Lost Boy turned around in surprise at being adressed. Her smirk dropped at his response.
"Um, Yes I am miss. Do you mind if I ask who you are and how you know my name?"
Nabiki blinked for a moment.
"Ok... You've been fighting with Ranma for the last year or so at my family's dojo. You know my name is Nabiki Tendo. Now, what's your game."
Nabiki quickly realized that she was dealing without all the information at Ryouga's next comment, but had a sudden sinking suspision of where to get said information. With a little shock, Ryouga responded.
"Ranma's alive?"
The shock on Ryouga's face couldn't be faked Nabiki thought. Nabiki figured that she'd try a different tactic.
"Yes, he's with Nakama right now."
"YES!"
To say that Nabiki was a little stunned at the lost boy's antics was an understatement. Nabiki tried to take a moment to ready herself for what was going on, but nothing under heaven or beyond earth could have prepared her for what happened in the next few minutes.
Ryouga was overjoyed. He had been searching this other world for weeks. Now here was someone that claimed to know one of the Saotomes, although she claimed to know him as well. Ryouga just shrugged at that thought while he danced for joy. He had been told that a version of him might already be here.
Ryouga reached for a crystal that was hanging for a bracelet that Nabiki hadn't noticed. His instructions had been very clear on this point. When he found a solid lead, summon the others so that he didn't get lost. With the thought of seeing everyones friendly faces again, Ryouga crushed his crystal and watched as the surrounding area glowed and three people appeared wearing similar bracelets.
Nabiki could have accepted the fact of two Ryouga's. She could take the fact that it appeared that her father stood before her and now had a goatie. She could understand the thought of a long haired Akane before her. But it was the sight of the woman that stood between her 'sister' and her 'father' that was too much for her.
"Momma?"
Kimiko Tendo looked over towards the girl who had just spoken. She had been washing the dishes at home when it appeared that Ryouga had finally chosen to summon them. The girl before her seemed to remind her of Akane for some reason.
"Excuse me miss?"
With the sound of a voice that she never thought that she would hear again in this lifetime, Nabiki fainted.
Akane looked over and got a worried look on her face.
"Oh dear. She seems to have fainted. Mother, we can't leave her like this."
Soun moved over to the fallen girl and lifted her gently in her arms.
"Don't worry Akane, we'll take this young lady with us for now. Ryouga, it is good to see you looking so well. We were getting worried."
Ryouga looked at the others with a sheepish expression.
"I um, kinda got lost. We might want to wake her up. She mentioned that she knew Nakama and talked about her family's dojo."
Kimiko looked fromher daughter to her husband and then fnally to the girl in his arms and made a connection.
"Oh my. Soun, I think that she might be a relative. See how she looks like Akane? She might have meant our dojo in this world."
Ryouga started to look aroud confused.
"But what is your family's dojo doing in Okinawa then?"
Akane started laughing at Ryouga's antics. In the last year or so he had become a true friend close to her heart while she and Ranma had been engaged. After Ranma's death it was his friendship alone that had given her strength to go on. He and Ranma had been like brothers, even if Ranma already had a couple.
Akane lightly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from attempting to take the lead. She looked around and wasn't surprised to discover that they were all apparently still in Nerima.
"Come on Ryouga. It's this way."
Soun and Kimiko smiled at Akane as she lead Ryouga by the arm. They both knew that their daughter spent much of her nights crying for her lost love, but the sight before them gave them hope that one day she would recover.
The followed quietly as Akane lead and Ryouga began talking about what he had been through trying to find the lost Saotomes.
OOOOO
Being Ranma's fiancee had prepared Akane for many things, but opening the door to her home and staring into her own eyes looking back was something she wasn't prepared for. The most obvious difference being that the other girl's hair was short/long. Akane blinked. Blink. BOTH Akanes blinked. The stalemate only lasted a moment before Soun caught sight of, well, Soun and thought that he had better explain since it seemed that everyone would soo be outside at this rate.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion. I can explain everything. My name as you may have guessed, is Soun Tendo. My family and I have come looking ... for ..."
Soun Tendo trailed off as he watched the other Soun slowly turn towards his wife and promptly faint. He turned towards the Akanes, only to see his daughter's other self repeat her father. Soun was confused. What was going on here?
Soun looked up at a gasp and for a moment thought that he was seeing his wife's double, but realized quickly that her hair was all wrong and that she was too young. He expected her to faint as well, instead she shot like a rocket and suddenly Kimiko understood what an Amazon glomp felt like.
A second gasp caught his ears, but this time it was someone he knew. For the first time in several months, Soun Tendo looked into the eyes of Yoshi Saotome.
"Hello Mr Tendo. Please enter, and welcome to our home."
OOOOO
I'm sorry for the long wait on this Chapter. As usual, please R&R