Second Childhood A warm hearted fan fiction by Phantom Crossing

This goes against all of my usual principals, which means that I’m going to write

something emotional and good today. The last time I tried a serious and good fic like this

was the on I put up in the Trigun section...but that is neither here nor there.

However what’s here is the awesomeness that is writing fan fiction when one

should be recovering from an important midterm that took place earlier the night I write

this. Now if that isn’t dedication, I don’t know what it is. Probably stupidity

Regardless of what it is. I say “Cry havoc and let slip your foot on the crap of the

dogs of war” or something like that. I’m feeling far less evil today than I normally do,

and as such this will be much Warm And Fuzzy Feelings.

The idea for the fic struck me. What if after the whole thing with the age

mushrooms, there were only enough left to get one person up to their original age. Kid

Ranma and kid Ryoga would probably fight about it, unless you consider the type of

person Ranma can be.

Just to clarify, the original story of the mushrooms happened in volume 33 of the

manga...so that would be post Nodoka. Enjoy!

Now on with the fic

Second Childhood Chapter One To do what one must

A very angry looking Ryoga sat across the dining table from the Tendo family.

His hands digging into the fabric of his pants, just above his knees, as he gritted his teeth.

“It just isn’t fair,” the bandanna clad youth looked ready to smash the table, “He

had no right to do it. Damn it! Because he felt sorry for me! He had no right,”

“Be that as it may Ryoga,” the Tendo patriarch spoke with resolve and conviction,

“What has happened has happened. We have no more aging mushrooms...and thus

Ranma will remain stuck as a child until the natural aging process returns him to his

rightful age...which by the time he reaches will still be ten years too young to be his

rightful age...which means...”

As the sentence went on, the conviction began dropping. It ended with the

patriarch bawling his eyes out in tears.

“Calm down father, it isn’t so bad,” the eldest daughter patted her father on the

back.

This seemed to quell the Tendo patriarch’s tears, but the sadness was still

overwhelming to any who saw his eyes. His dreams would never be realized...the

houses would never be joined. It was all so unfortunate...all so unbelievable. That the

greatest martial artist of a generation would become a child...magic was truly a harsh

thing.

-On top of the roof

Atop the roof of the Tendo home sits a small child, by appearance he is six years

old. He seems distant, and above other things, alone. He cursed himself over a hundred

times... it was his fault.

It had been his fault when he and Ryoga had been put in front of what they’d

figured were the last supply of the aging mushrooms in Japan. More than enough for both of them to get back to normal...more than enough to get their lives back. Of course

he had to jump ahead of Ryoga shouting ‘me first’. Of course he had to turn it into a

race... of course that race had to turn into a fight.

A fight in which Ranma’s own Hiryu Shoten Ha destroyed almost all the

mushrooms. True that attack had beaten Ryoga... and he could clearly remember

standing on the lost boy turned child’s head and looming over the remaining fungi. Then

it hit him. The amount of mushrooms that were left was only enough for one person...

and this was the last of the supply; quite literally to. Their escapade in trying to get hold

of the stuff had brought this species of mushroom to virtual extinction. If he ate them,

then Ryoga would be stuck as a kid until he grew up on his own. He realized that it was

his attack that killed off their chance of both getting back to normal, well as close to

normal as they could get considering their lives.

He realized that if he left Ryoga to suffer as he was then he was no better than his

father. It was here that Ranma made a choice. He made the choice to force feed the

mushrooms to the unconscious Ryoga... he had chosen the right thing to do. But if it was

right... then why was he regretting it so much.

Why did it hurt so much?

Ranma’s train of thought was broken as a ladder was loudly rested against the

edge of the roof. He could hear someone climbing it, and soon he could see the blue-

black hair cresting the edge of the tiled roof.

“Ranma?” she hadn’t seen him when he first got home a few hours ago.

She had seen Ryoga and thought that the two of them were back to normal now; it

wasn’t until after that she heard Ryoga’s rant and anger. She didn’t want to believe it

until she saw it with her own eyes. She couldn’t believe it until she saw it with her own

eyes.

Now she had seen it. Now she believed it.

“Hey...” he was ready to throw a barrage of insults at her but they never came, “I

don’t feel like talking,”

Ranma’s voice was calm and serious. It was as if this situation had rendered him

more mature than his physical body. Akane brushed his lack of insults aside as a part of

whatever depression he was going through right now. He was stuck as a child, and that

had to be impossibly hard on Ranma as someone whose whole life is based upon how

strong they are...and in this circumstance he seemed to lack that aura of confidence he

usually had at all times.

“Are...Ranma are you going to be okay?” Akane needed to ask this question, it

burned her as she was certain she already knew the answer.

“I said I didn’t want to talk!” he sat up and glared at her, “Argh, you can be so un-

cure sometime!”

“Idiot!” she replied quickly and with a tinge of acid in her voice, “I’m trying to be

nice and you bite my head off!”

“Trying to be nice?” he scoffed, “I don’t need your sympathy! I don’t need you

pity! I just felt responsible for the stupid P-brain! It was my fault there were only

enough mushrooms for one of us and I made the damn choice!”

During the course of this exchange, Akane remained on the ladder simply leaning

over the edge of the roof towards the pigtailed youth. As the heated nature of the

exchange intensified she began shifting her weight and standing upright. She didn’t

notice the imbalance this created in her position.

“Well I wasn’t feeling sorry! I was just worried, okay! I have no pity for you!

Or is that not enough, do I have to stop caring all together!” she wouldn’t cry, she told

herself she would never cry when she argued with Ranma.

That resolve continued to hold out.

“Feh, you say you care,” he looked down at his hands, “I don’t need your help.

I’m still strong,”

“Oh yeah, well it takes strength to admit when you need help!” she placed her

hand on her hips and turned her head up and away.

This was a poor choice, as this shift in weight and position was just enough to

cause the ladder to begin tipping backwards. Ranma miraculously noticed before Akane

did and sprang into action scurrying to the edge of the roof and reaching out to her, eyes

wide in fear.

“Akane,” he cried out, “Akane!”

“What do you want Ran-” she could suddenly feel the movement of her center of

gravity with the moving ladder.

She instinctively shot her hands forward and grabbed onto Ranma’s small child

sized hand. Taking firm hold as the ladder slipped from beneath her feat and went

clattering to the ground below. As Akane’s weight was shifted to Ranma for support, he

found himself pulled down to the point where he was hanging from the roof by his feet,

desperately trying to hold onto Akane.

“Hold on Akane!” his voice was strained.

She could tell he was weakening. She could tell he couldn’t keep this up.

“Ranma...Ranma please let go, you’re only hurting yourself,” she wouldn’t

cry...she wouldn’t cry.

“I’m still strong damn it!” he shouted in an attempt to muster what power his

body had left, “I can do this!”

A moment passed in complete silence. A moment of Akane watching sadly as

Ranma, with eyes and teeth clenched, tried desperately to keep his hold and pull Akane

up. Every inch of his body was sweating with this exhausting attempt that would have

been nothing for his former body...for his true age.

“I’m still strong,” he said again with less confidence.

The tiles along the edge of the roof which were supporting Ranma’s feet shattered.

Two bodies fell. Ranma release his grip on Akane and maneuvered his falling form in

front of her own so he would take the brunt of the impact. He had to protect Akane. He

had to show her he was still strong. That he was still the best.

Akane felt Ranma move beneath her. She knew what he was trying to do. Even

though he still had the skills and knowledge of a trained martial artist, the body of an

adult landing atop the body of such a small child would leave his body either heavily

injured or dead. She did what felt natural. After two years of Ranma always protecting

her, always being there to save her, it was her turn to protect him. It was Akane’s turn to

save Ranma, just this once.

Her arms wrapped around the small form and she arched her body around his, not

enough to roll into a ball, but enough so she could then lean to her side, and take the

impact to the ground with her shoulder while Ranma was only shaken.

She sat up and looked into Ranma’s eyes and saw she was wrong. Ranma was

hurt far worse than anything the fall could have done. His eyes seemed vacant as they stared back into Akane’s.

“I’m still strong,” his vacant eyes began spilling tears down his cheeks, tears that

were not accompanied by sobs, silent and painful.

“Ranma,” she finally let her own tears free as she held the child close to her.

The child, in response, held on closely to her as well. They sat there on the

ground crying and holding each other.

Soun, Genma, Nabiki, Nodoka, Kasumi, and Ryoga had all ventured outside when

they heard the commotion. They all saw the events unfold in less than a second just

before the tiles broke beneath Ranma’s feet.

“Ranma...please don’t give up,” she was starting to sob with her tears, “It’ll be

okay...It’ll all be okay,”

End Chapter One:

--

Okay then...that was chapter one

Next Up, Chapter two preview.

“What did you do!?” Ranma shrieked as the small hand reached out and grabbed

his.

“What I had to Ranma...” she lowered her eyes, “I didn’t want you to be alone,”

“But...you...and...no way back...why?” Ranma was trembling in fear.

“It was my choice Ranma...mine and no one else’s,” she brought her other hand

to his and led it back her chest on top of her heart, “It just feels right,”

“You...you’re...you’re so un-cute,” the words were so half hearted from his lips

that neither believed them.

Next Chapter: I still have hope.

Author’s notes

Okay everyone... I know Warn and Fuzzy Feelings isn’t really my favorite style...but I

had to do this one, okay. Just go with it. Go with the flow and don’t look back. I hope

you enjoy this thoroughly.