"Ok, you two, it's your turn," Akane said, stepping out of the
bathroom a short while later.
        "I need to have the tub all to myself," Ryoga said, confused.
        "That's Ok, Ryoga, I'll just be real quick then," Ranma said.  He
ran to his room for clean clothes, then dashed back to the bathroom for one
of the quickest baths of his life.  Akane hadn't looked too pleased with
the separate-baths solution, and he was worried that she might be stewing
about it.  He stepped out to see Akane and Ryoga waiting in the living
room, drawing.
        "Whatcha doing?" he asked, looking over Ryoga's shoulder.
        "I'm making a picture," Ryoga answered.  "See?  There's me, and
you, and Akane.  And this is Kasumi and Nabiki and Mr. Soun, and here's Mr.
Panda!"
        "Hey, that's pretty good!" Ranma lied, looking down at the
indistinguishable stick figures.  "Want me to write everyone's names down
for ya?"
        "Ok!" Ryoga grinned up at him.  Ranma quickly scrawled the names
down, hoping he hadn't gotten any of them mixed up.  He looked up to see
Akane smiling tenderly at him, before she schooled her expression into a
more neutral one.
        "Uh, let's go get your bath now, Ok?" Ranma asked, blushing a
little.  Akane's smiles were so magical...
        "Yeah!  I have a boat!" Ryoga said enthusiastically, pulling a
small plastic ship out of a pile of bath toys.
        "Do you need any help?" Akane asked, as Ryoga carried the toy off
to the bathroom.
        "No!' Ranma said sharply.  "I mean...Akane, he's a guy!"
        "He's only a little boy right now, Ranma," Akane said through a
forced smile.  "Just let me know if you need me, Ok?"
        "Ok."  Ranma followed the little boy into the bathroom.  "Ok,
Ryoga, let's get you clean," he said.   "You're going to have to put the
toy down, so we can get your clothes off."
        "No."
        "Ryoga, just put it down here, and you can have it again in just a
second."
        "I don't want to," Ryoga said, his jaw setting stubbornly.
        "Ryoga..."
        "It's MY BOAT and you can't have it!" Ryoga shouted, clutching the
boat with both hands as Ranma tried to pull it away from him.  There was a
quiet knock at the door.
        "Ranma?" Akane's voice called.  "Can I come in?"
        "Yes," said Ryoga, while Ranma answered "No."  Akane pushed the
door open and stepped in.   With great difficulty, Ranma bit back the sharp
comment he wanted to make.  He had given his word not to fight in front of
Ryoga, and he would keep his word if it killed him.
        "Ryoga, come over here," Akane was saying, as she started the water
running in the tub.  Ryoga stood beside her and peered down as the water
slowly began to fill in.
        "Let's put your boat in here, OK?" Akane asked.  "Then we'll get
you clean, and you can play in the tub."
        "Ok," Ryoga said after a long pause.  He gently lowered the boat
into the water, and watched it float for a little while.
        "Now, we need to get you clean before you can play with the boat.
Come on over here, and let's get you scrubbed up while the tub fills."
        Ryoga obediently walked over to the little stool, and allowed Ranma
and Akane to pull his clothing off.
        "I think I can handle it now," Ranma whispered to Akane.
        "It's Ok, Ranma," Akane whispered back.  "Just try to remember he's
only a little boy, Ok?  He doesn't think anything of it, and neither should
you."
        "Whatever," Ranma said unhappily.  Akane picked up a bucket of cold
water, and Ranma's eyes widened in horror.  If she dumped that on Ryoga...
        "No!" he yelled, and then the water splashed over the little boy.
        "That's cold!" Ryoga exclaimed.  Akane laughed and started to help
him soap up, while Ranma stared in shock.  Ryoga hadn't changed!   The
curse hadn't happened to him at this point in his life!
        "Ranma, are you OK?" Akane was asking worriedly.
        "Fine," Ranma said numbly, then shook himself and started working
some shampoo into Ryoga's thick mop of hair.  By the time Ranma and Akane
had scrubbed the little boy from head to toe, and carefully rinsed the soap
away, the tub was full enough for Ryoga.
        "Here ya go," Ranma said, lifting the boy down into the tub.  Akane
knelt by the tub while Ranma perched on the edge.
        "I love you," Ryoga said, looking up at them both through spiky wet
eyelashes.
        "Oh, honey, we love you, too," Akane answered, her throat tightening.
        Ryoga looked down at the boat in his hand, then whispered the
question that had been nagging at him all day.
        "Will you still love me after I get big and ugly?"
        "Of course we'll love you when you're big," Akane said, tossing a
puzzled glance over at Ranma.  Her fiance shrugged at her.  "But what makes
you think you'll be ugly?"
        "Mommy says when I get big I'll be as ugly as Daddy."  Ryoga's gaze
was still fastened on the boat, though tears were blurring his vision of
it.  Akane gasped and glanced at Ranma again.  He was frowning, nodding his
head slowly.  That certainly meshed with what he had seen of Ryoga's
parents.
        "Daddy says I'm already ugly," Ryoga added, oblivious to the silent
exchange going on over his head.  Suddenly the tears that had welled up in
his eyes spilled out, and Ryoga dropped the boat to hug his knees as he
cried.
        "Oh, Ryoga, they're wrong," Akane said, reaching down to pat his
shaking back.  "You're not ugly at all."
        "Yes, I am," Ryoga sobbed.  "I'm ugly and I make them fight!"
Ranma got up and left the room suddenly, leaving Akane alone to try and
soothe the boy's wounded feelings. She bit back her anger at Ranma's
retreat as she searched desperately for something appropriate to say to
Ryoga.
        "Honey, it's not your fault if other people fight," she finally
said.  "Only if you fight."  She paused a moment as her words echoed back
at her.  She was always blaming others for angering her or picking fights
with her, wasn't she?  Especially Ranma.
        As if summoned by her thought, Ranma dashed back into the room,
carrying a hand mirror.  Akane felt a stab of shame at her earlier
reaction.  She had been so quick to assume he was leaving her to deal with
Ryoga alone...
        "You're not ugly," Ranma said to the boy in the tub.  "Look!"
        "I don't want to," Ryoga mumbled, brushing at his tear-streaked
face with a wet hand and leaving it even wetter than before.
        "Come on, I promise that you're not ugly," said Ranma, holding the
mirror up.  Ryoga reluctantly looked up at it and then glanced quickly away
from his reflection.
        "Look again," Akane urged.  "You're not an ugly boy.  Just look at
your beautiful hair."  Ryoga looked at the boy in the mirror, watching as
Akane's hands smoothed the drying locks.
        "It's so thick, and shiny, and soft," Akane said.  "Now look at
Ranma's hair.  Your hair is just like Ranma's."  Ryoga looked up at Ranma
in surprise.  Ranma was gaping at Akane.  Was she trying to flirt with him?
Well, two could play at that game!
        "And look at your eyes, Ryoga," Ranma said.  "You have beautiful,
sweet brown eyes that light up when you smile and tell people how you feel.
Your eyes are just like Akane's eyes."  Ryoga looked from the mirror to
Akane.  Her eyes were downcast, the dark lashes fluttering against her
blushing cheeks.  Then she raised her eyes to meet Ranma's, her shy smile
matching his.
        Ryoga smiled at his reflection, then suddenly grew downhearted again.
        "Nobody has a mouth like me," he said sadly.
        "Sure they do," Ranma answered quickly.  "Mr. Panda has teeth just
like you!"
        "Ranma!" Akane gasped, but Ranma just pointed at Ryoga, who was
grinning at the mirror now.
        "See?" Ranma asked.  "You look a little bit like all of us.  That
means you belong here!"
        "Do I look like Kasumi and Nabiki, too?" Ryoga asked hopefully.
        "You're more like them on the inside," Akane said after a long
moment's thought.
        "On the inside?" Ryoga asked dubiously.  He didn't like the sound
of that!
        "Well, Kasumi is very sweet and loving, and so are you," said
Akane.  "And Nabiki is very smart, and you're smart, too."
        "Mommy says I'm stupid," Ryoga interrupted matter-of-factly.
"Because I get lost sometimes."
        "Yeah, well, you're smart enough to stay here with us, right?"
Ranma said, ruffling the boy's hair.  Ryoga grinned and jumped up to hug
him, thoroughly soaking Ranma from the neck down.  Ranma froze a minute,
then tentatively hugged the boy back.  Akane turned aside to hide her
smile.
        After a few moments, Ryoga backed out of the hug and then stared at
Ranma's wet clothes in horror.
        "Please don't be mad, I didn't mean to make you wet!" the boy
cried, cowering down in the water as though he expected to be hit.
        "I'm not mad," Ranma said, his voice a mix of surprise and hurt.
"I'd better go change before this turns cold, though.  I'll be back, OK?"
He ruffled Ryoga's hair again on his way out the door.
        Akane glanced after Ranma for a minute, the turned to Ryoga.  "Are
you ready to come out of the tub now?" she asked.  Ryoga nodded and
clambered up over the edge of the tub.  Akane wrapped him in a huge, fluffy
towel that engulfed him, then let the water out of the tub and led the boy
out of the bathroom by the hand.
        "We need to find you something clean to wear," Akane said as she
and Ryoga walked to her room.  Ryoga nodded sagely at this pronouncement,
though he privately wondered why he couldn't just wear the same clothes
again.
        Akane pulled down the box of old  clothes again, and sighed in
slight aggravation as she had to eliminate nearly all of the clothing as
unsuitable.  First her mother, and later Kasumi, had tried to instill at
least some sense of femininity in her while still being practical.  The
result was that she had a collection of charming clothes - for an active
little girl.  Everything was either too pink or too preciously frilly to
put on Ryoga.  She ended up dressing him in a plain white T-shirt that hung
halfway to his ankles and wrists, and vowing to herself that they would go
shopping the next day.
        "It looks like a dress," Ranma commented from the doorway.
        "It's a night shirt," Akane sniffed.
        "It's cute," Ranma said.  "But let's get him some boy clothes
tomorrow, OK?"
        "I was just thinking the same thing," Akane answered with a gentle
smile.
        "I wish you were my real Mommy and Daddy," Ryoga said wistfully.
Akane opened her arms with a smile, and Ryoga ran to hug her, burying his
little face against her shoulder and wrapping his thin, bare legs around
her waist.
        "Can I call you Mommy and Daddy?  Just for pretend?" Ryoga mumbled
into Akane's hair.  Akane shot a questioning glance at Ranma, who looked
torn between laughter and terror.  Grinning at the comical expression on
Ranma's face, she hugged Ryoga tighter and answered slowly.  "Sure, honey.
I think that would be a nice thing to pretend.  We love you just like our
own little boy."
        "I think I hear someone knocking," Ranma said.  "You guys stay
here, and I'll be back, Ok?"
        "Ok!" Ryoga agreed cheerfully.

*****

        Ranma bounded down the stairs and reached the door just as Kasumi
slid it open.
        "Airen!" Shampoo cried, throwing her arms around him.
        "Sh-Shampoo," Ranma stammered, trying to push her away gently.
"Where's the old ghoul?"
        "Great-Grandmother on her way.  After Ryoga eat mushrooms, you take
Shampoo on date?"
        "Let's wait till we see whether the mushrooms work, " Cologne
rasped as she made her way slowly to the door.
        "Hey, old ghoul, you Ok?" Ranma asked.  He wouldn't have thought it
was possible for Cologne to look WORSE than usual, if he hadn't seen it
with his own eyes.
        "I'm fine, son-in-law.  Just missed out on my beauty sleep the past
two days.  You're not looking so good yourself, you know."
        "Did you get the stems?"
        "We found them, all right," Cologne said.  "It was no easy task,
either, trying to track the path Ryoga took.  He must've circled back on
himself at least a dozen times!"
        "That boy have no sense of direction," Shampoo agreed.
        "Yeah, well can I have 'em?  He doesn't have a whole lot of time
left, you know."
        "Of course," Cologne said, shrugging her way out of a small
backpack.  "They're in here somewhere."
        "I'll go get a basket to put them in," Kasumi said cheerfully.
Ranma was fairly dancing with impatience by the time Cologne had found the
stems and placed them in the small basket.
        "Here you go, son-in-law.  We should see a change as soon as he
eats them all."
        "Hey, thanks!  This is great!" Ranma cried, grabbing the basket of
stems and racing up the stairs.  "Hey, Ryoga, look what I got for ya!" he
called.
        Ranma ran into Akane's room and came to an abrupt halt, staring
slack-jawed as for one horrified moment everything froze.  Little Ryoga
waved at him from Akane's arms, and gave him a huge, toothless, slobbery
grin.
        "Oh, no..." Ranma gasped.
        "He...I only took my eyes off him for a minute!" Akane cried.
"Ranma, how can we get him to eat them?" she asked, her eyes welling up
with tears.  Ryoga leaned back to look up at her.
        "Give the stems to me," Cologne said from the hallway, having
followed Ranma upstairs.  "And keep him awake!"
        Akane jostled Ryoga as his eyes started to droop shut, and he
opened them again with a cranky whimper.
        "Here, lemme hold him a minute," Ranma said, grabbing the baby and
bouncing him vigorously.  Ryoga squealed happily and waved his little arms
in the air, and Ranma couldn't help but grin at him.  He tossed Ryoga in
the air and caught him easily, and the baby squealed again and chuckled at
him.  Ranma heard Akane gasp in horror behind him, and he turned to face
her, certain that she was about to snatch the baby away and yell at him.
        "Just don't drop him, OK?" Akane asked, smiling timidly as the baby
gurgled at her.
        ""Don't worry, Akane," Ranma answered.  "I won't let anything
happen to him."  In the next hour he tossed the baby in the air over and
over again, and bounced him some more.  He even turned a back flip while
holding Ryoga tucked tight against his chest, in an effort to keep him
awake.  Ryoga had stopped enjoying all the action a very long time ago, and
was now howling his displeasure.
        "What is taking so long?" Ranma asked worriedly as Akane took a
turn bouncing the baby.  "I thought the old ghoul had a plan."
        "Here!" Shampoo gasped, as she came bounding up the stairs and into
the room.  She held a baby bottle filled with a clear, amber liquid.
"Great grandmother fix mushrooms.  I hope it work!"  She handed the bottle
to Akane, who sat down on the bed with the baby in her arms.
        Akane offered Ryoga the bottle and he started drinking eagerly,
clutching the sides of the bottle with his little hands as if he thought it
might be taken from him.  She smiled gently down at him.
        "Why'd it take so long?" Ranma whispered in an aside to Shampoo,
unable to tear his eyes away from Akane and the baby.
        "Have to go find bottle," Shampoo whispered back, hiding a smug
smile.  "You no have any here."  She was certain that Ryoga would be fine,
now, and Ranma would naturally turn to her in gratitude.  Surely Ranma
would see that she had selflessly endured great hardships to save his
friend...
        "Ranma!  He's going to sleep!' Akane hissed worriedly.  "What do I do?"
        "Let him," Cologne whispered as she pushed past Ranma and her
great-granddaughter to gaze at the baby.  "If the mushroom stems are going
to work, it'll be now or never."
        Everyone watched intently, the silence unbroken except by the noise
of Ryoga sucking on the bottle and occasionally making little sounds of
contentment.  His big brown eyes slowly started to droop shut, gazed around
unfocused, and then finally closed.  Akane felt his body go limp in her
arms, and she stared down at him hopefully, knowing that he was asleep and
praying that he would be OK...
        The baby started to shrink in her arms, and Akane quickly jostled
him.  His eyes opened slowly, and he resumed sucking on the bottle.  Ranma
stepped up and gently tugged on the baby's tiny bare toes.  Ryoga curled
his toes and watched Ranma while he drank.
        "Ryoga," Ranma whispered, his throat tight.  "Don't do this to me,
man..."
        "He's down to about six weeks now," Cologne said sadly.  "I'm
sorry.  There isn't enough time..."
        "He dying?" Shampoo asked in disbelief.  After all her work, after
all she and Great-Grandmother had done, Ryoga was dying anyway?  Her eyes
welled up with tears as she thought of Ranma's grief, and then she realized
that she would grieve herself.  She would never know if he might have been
all right, if only they had gotten there sooner... Shampoo started to cry
noisily, drawing the baby's attention to her.
        "Come with me, Shampoo," Cologne said quietly, leading her
great-granddaughter out of the room.  "There is nothing more we can do
here, and your tears will only confuse him."  She didn't add that it was
only appropriate, somehow, that Ryoga's last sight should be of the woman
he adored.
        "Ranma, what do we do?" Akane asked, struggling to keep her own
tears from spilling out.
        "I don't know," Ranma mumbled, staring at the baby and swallowing
around the lump in his throat.  He had often angrily wished that Ryoga
would just get out of his life, but not like this.  His vision started to
blur, and he turned away from Akane to brush the wetness from his eyes.
Behind him, he heard Akane whispering.
        "Ryoga, I'm sorry.  So sorry," she was saying.  "All I can give you
now is this."  And she began to sing, a sweet, gentle lullabye.  Her clear
voice filled the room, gently, soothingly, offering up the song that her
own mother had sung to her.

        "kimi wa   nee itsumo
        tsuppatteru kara
        kitto   nee
        tsukarechaun da yo   Mu--"

        Ranma squeezed his own eyes shut.  Her voice, so sweetly warm and
loving, reminded him powerfully of his own mother.  He wondered if she had
ever held and sung to him, before his father had taken him away.
        He was certain that Ryoga's mother hadn't lavished such affection
on her only son.  She was a cold, bitter woman, and Ranma couldn't imagine
her lovingly cradling Ryoga and singing to him, as Akane was doing.  He
turned around to see Ryoga closing his eyes again, still sucking on the
bottle as he drifted off to sleep.  Akane had stopped singing, and the
tears that had been threatening were now flowing, tumbling down her cheeks.
Obeying some inexplicable impulse, Ranma crossed the room to sit beside
her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders.  He lightly stroked Ryoga's
tiny hand with one finger, and leaned his head against Akane's.  They sat
like that for a long time, each trying not to cry in front of the other.
        Eventually Ranma nudged Akane, and started to grin.
        "He's asleep.  He's not changing any."
        Akane gave him a blindingly beautiful smile as she realized it was
true.  Ranma grinned back at her.
        "He's OK," he said, and Akane nodded at him.  She tried to pull the
bottle out of Ryoga's mouth, and he started drinking again in his sleep.
Akane and Ranma shared a silent laugh.
        "I guess he has to drink the whole bottle before he'll turn back to
his own age," Ranma suggested.
        "Here, could you hold him for a minute?  I need to go to the
bathroom."  Without really waiting for an answer, Akane handed the baby to
Ranma, making sure Ryoga was settled snugly in the crook of Ranma's arm
before she left.  The change in position woke Ryoga up, and he gazed up at
Ranma with huge, dark eyes.
        "Hey, there, Ryoga," Ranma said.  "You're gonna be OK."
        The baby reached up to explore Ranma's giant hand as it held the
bottle for him.  He wrapped one chubby little fist around Ranma's smallest
finger, and then closed his eyes again, still slurping at the bottle.
Ranma smiled down at the baby, and in that moment a warm rush of emotion
flooded over him, for this tiny baby, his sweet heaviness, his little hand
wrapped around Ranma's finger.  His best friend and worst enemy became
something more, and Ranma smiled down at the baby's tiny face.
        "Sweet baby..." he whispered.  He didn't know the words, but he
found himself humming the melody to Akane's lullabye, and gently rocked
back and forth as the baby slept trustingly in his arms.
        Akane looked in from the hallway, and decided not to interrupt.
She made her way back down the stairs, and the sound of Kasumi washing
dishes drew her into the kitchen.
        "He's going to be Ok," she said a little wearily.
        "Oh, good!" Kasumi said happily, turning around to face her.  "We
were afraid the stems hadn't worked!  Cologne said he'd need to finish all
the juice before he could return to his normal age.  I didn't want to throw
it away, just in case..."
        "There's more juice?" Akane asked, feeling her stomach sink.
        "It's right here," Kasumi said with a sweet smile, pointing to a
shelf in the refrigerator.  Akane gasped as she saw three huge containers
filled with amber liquid...

To be continued in "The Mushroom Incident, Part 2:  Raising Ryoga"
Comments and constructive criticism welcome, please mail
"elewyiss@earthlink.net"