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Revision 2 - Fixing continuity issues, and fleshing things out a bit.

Ranma entered the bath and she stripped and just lowered herself into the bath. The hat felt warm, and comforting, his change came without notice, he steeped in the warm bath, and let the silence of the bath, mirror his soul. No thoughts entered his mind, just silence. He almost drifts off to sleep, when he notices the water growing brighter, glowing, more and more brilliant, until he could see the face of long black hair, surrounding a very cute face, with odd tattoos, pushing itself up through the water, attached to a girl, who while she is leaving her pool, realizes that she shares it with a Very nude man. Shock, embarrassment and then Rage pass over her face as she jumps out of the water with a cry of “HENTAI!” and turns away from him blushing. Out of nowhere her BugZapper 2000 appears, but before she can turn to strike him she hears

“uhmm Sorry about this, but I was taking a bath. Do you mind?”

She blanches as she realizes what she has done….

And high above them one star above him, the one he inherited from Akane, loses touch with Ranma, and looks for a new target….

Chapter 3 : a Mallet of a Different Color….

As Skuld felt the full force of her mental connection to her charge, she realized two very important things. First, She had never felt such a strong sense of emptiness as a force than she felt from Ranma, and second, perhaps just Skimming the record on Ranma was not the best plan. She KNEW she had read something about him being walked in on a lot, in the baths, but did not think for a second that this was possible where a goddess was concerned. I mean, She was a Goddess, she was immune to such petty things, at least until she screwed up enough like Urd did. But there she was, Face a crimson red, her BugZapper 2000 Mallet in her hands, screaming “HENTAI!” at the one person she was supposed to help.

In the back of her mind she also realized that using said mallet, would perhaps be a Bad Idea ™ and perhaps she should rethink that some. While this mental debate raged in her mind, Ranma looked at the young goddess, not really even surprised that she was there. It had been weeks, so he was do for someone to show up and hurt him, some female anyway. He had thought it was going to be Tina-san, since she was, well, more passionate, that that always lead to beating up Ranma. Everything always lead to beating up Ranma. “If your going to hit me with that, Please let me go outside first, so I do not destroy my cousins house”, he said with a great weight in his voice.

“Eep, I am so very sorry, So sorry. I should never have done that, I should have checked before using that gateway IAMSkuldiamnotgoingtohityou” she rambled hastily hiding her mallet, and turning around. Taking a deep breath to calm her self she started to talk “Hi, I am Sku….” “

“Excuse me, I am in the Bath. Can this wait until I am done and out of the bath?” Ranma interrupted her. His face showed no expression at all, even his eyes, were like dark holes in his head. Skuld was also having problems dealing with the link, its supposed to help the goddess see the true intent of the wish, but this was just making her mind feel like it was falling into an abyss, sorrow, and self loathing, to cover a deep and abiding rage. An all consuming rage, that if it ever got out, even Mara-baka would be impressed. Or terrified, She was not sure which.

“ I am sorry, Ranma, Of course, I should have better manners. I will wait for you in the tea room”, she said at him, looking at the floor and taking her leave.

Ranma went back to soaking in the tub. One thing he liked about Aoi-chan’s place is that while this tub was the size of a small swimming pool, it was always full of warm water, if he wished it, and no matter how long he stayed it was always the perfect temperature. He glanced at he surface of the water, seeing his own reflection, and then did not move for a long time.

Skuld entered the tea room, and sat waiting. She had almost REALLY screwed this up. As she got farther from Ranma, she could feel him less and less. Which was good, because she is not equipped to deal with this level of pain. In fact the one thing she noticed was, contrary to how things were supposed to go, she could get no discernable thought when she was near him other than the abiding pain he felt. It overwhelmed the rest of his thoughts, driving them out and masking them completely. It started to make her head hurt, thinking about this. Half an hour later, and she was still sitting there. No sign of Ranma, just the dull throb of his pain in her head. Her pager vibrated a few times and she called up looking to see what Peorth-san wanted. “Hi Peorth….. No, I am still waiting to tell him about it… well .. hum …about that, see, he was in the bath when I arrived… NO I DID NOT HIT him…yeah, he didn’t seemed very surprised to see me though…. Ohh one of thing, the connection is all weird, I cant get any thoughts from him…. No I feel him, but all I get is massive amounts of pain, and rage…. Yeah, its like he is a demon, only well, human….he has been in there along time, I better go see if he is decent… Bye bye!”

Skuld walked back to the bathroom, but looking around it found it empty, angry at this, but still being very quiet, she wandered the house, till she found Ranma, sleeping in his room. Here she saw a different side of him. He was at peace, relaxed and for lack of anything any better to describe it, he was beautiful. She knew gods who were not as handsome. Without the pain lines etching his face, he looked serene, and she could suddenly understand why his file talked about so many women. On looks alone, if here were happy, it seemed he would make a good god. Then Skuld realized what she was thinking, and blushed brightly, moving to the edge of the room. She sat quietly, against the wall, waiting for him to wake up.

Ranma was awake, but still just could not bring himself to find out what she wanted. It takes effort to talk, to someone, who may mallet you for any reason. It’s not the malletting itself he was afraid of either. It was the affirmation of the world that everyone really was out to hurt him. He knew this inside. No matter what else, everyone could and would tear his heart out, given the chance. So it was easier to lay here, and pretend to sleep, just like he did every night. He lay there, with his eyes closed, not thinking, or feeling anything, just being. The way he had done every night, since he got here. Sleep, really could not come to him, but he could rest, stop moving his boy, and stop pretending to be alive.

Skuld watched him, further, and in a flash of brilliance, used what little magic she possessed, to in her mind deepen his sleep, make it more restful than it would have been. The actual effect on Ranma, was for the first day, since he walked in on Akane having sex with her lawyer, he fell into a deep, true and really restful sleep. She resolved that as soon as possible she would read that entire file, because she had this sinking suspicion she was in over her head.

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Nabiki looked herself over in the mirror, She had everything she could think of Perfect for her interview. Every detail she could manage, made her look the part of the young professional administrative assistant to a modern successful Japanese female executive. She had checked on her soon to be employer, Miyabi Kagurazaki, and she was known for keeping odd meeting schedules, and apparently running the entire Tokyo offices from her home. She was also very close to the family, and had served the CEO personally as his assistant for years before being promoted to taking over the Tokyo office’s. She apparently also organized the stock holders meetings, mostly clan members, and there were references to her managing a small Sakuraba inn, though that made little sense to her research about her scope of responsibilities. All in all, she seemed exactly the sort of person that Nabiki wanted to learn from.

She took one last look at her room, before she left it. She REALLY hoped this went well, Well enough in fact she could justify blowing much of her saving so she did not have to come back here. She knew given a few more days her father would relent and allow Akane back into the clan. She knew if that happened, that being a Tendo would be even more meaningless than it already was, and she would rather become ronin, than deal with that. Kasumi, well, She tried to talk to her, but, no matter what she said to her sister, it was like talking to a lobotomized Martha Stewart doll… Nothing seemed to bother her, even Akane’s behavior or betrayal of her vows, meant anything really. Kasumi needed as much help as anyone else in this family, and Nabiki thought she was the closest to being completely broken. If she got the chance she would try and get her sister out of here as well, get her some help, like paid for therapy and counseling. But in this instance she say little short of physically taking her that would get her to leave the safety of her house.

The Taxi honked up in front of the Dojo, and Nabiki walked out the front door, bag in hand. Other than Kasumi, no one noticed. Other than Kasumi, no one cared. Kasumi on the other hand, knowing in her heart that Nabiki was leaving, and not coming back. She quietly put the tongs in the kitchen away, and where no one could see her, shed silent tears for her last contact to her mother.

The two men sat in front of their board neither moving a piece. The master was gone, Ranma was gone, Akane was gone, all they had left was Kasumi to run the house, and Nabiki to make money to keep it. But they were so blind they did not realize that they did not even have that.

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The last box was packed, and Kuonji Ukyo steely put the stickers on it. Her father had accepted her back, fully, into the clan again after the news papers told of Ranma’s death. This is NOT how she wanted to be, Not the life she wanted. Yes there was Okonomiyaki, but without Ranchan…. It seems to be losing its flavor. She was losing business, somewhat, and her father felt it was time to move the shop anyway. So she was packing up, to take over a new store front. Maybe being in a new place would help her forget about Ranchan, and how much she missed him as her friend. She would have forgiven everything else in the end, as long as she had that, but now, she had nothing. Nothing, but her work, which would keep her going. She looked at the packing slip, and thought about the university she was opening the shop near. She should get great Business from a major university like Meiritsu University. A very good technical university, rivaling even Tokyo University in some areas. Now if she could just get her heart lift some. At least enough so she does not want to join Ranchan. She is stronger than that, she knows it. But its still a tempting thought. In the darkest parts of her nights, it was the most tempting. To give up. Her best friend, and for years, the center of her world, gone forever. She shook her head, Must keep moving forward.

“Ok, they are all ready to go” she yelled at the movers. By tomorrow, she should be setting up shop, and moving into her new apartment. It had been a choice of Meiritsu or Todai, and her business sense told her that it was cheaper to operate near Meiritsu, so she would do better there. ‘Besides’ she thought to herself ‘I am a woman now, again, maybe I can find someone who I can actually be in a relationship with’. Her heart of course told her that no one would ever be like Ranchan was though. No one ever could.

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Ok that is it for another chapter…. Be glad guys, three chapters is my new record. And its all been mostly because of the feedback I have been getting. This is being difficult to write mostly because I had in the past major depressive episodes, and I am trying to write those into this. The Time loss, fading form the world around you, that I keep trying to present in Ranma, has the side effect of bringing those feelings up in me again.  But its good for character anyway.

Some notes before the feedback, Akane is a bitch and can die. Kasumi may have to be kidnapped to get her any help, I am considering having that happen. It wont be romantic help it will be mental help.

I will get to what the main characters are doing as well. And I am still set on this being a Ranma/Nabiki fic, with Nabiki being subservient to Ranma in the relationship for a change. With his current mental state, that may help him.

dennisud I may end up rewriting this, and if I do rewrite it from scratch I may put all of that in a prologue, just to timeline stream it a bit better.

Wonderbee31 Kasumi does deserve a break, but I have not seen where in this universe that break can come from. Nabiki, and Nodoka would have to kidnap her to get her help

Light02 I think Skuld is in for a far worse punishment than just being yelled at by Kami-sama….