?                    ?

Whiteness, even through closed eyes; unrelenting pain, to the point of 
madness. Those were the only things Akane had felt before she blacked 
out.

When she had regained consciousness, the first thing she saw was Dr. 
Tofu. Standing over her, he was holding her eye open and inspecting it 
with a light. She tried to call out to him but her mouth would not form 
words; she couldn't move at all!

He released her lids and the eye snapped shut against all attempts she 
made at keeping it open. Consciousness ran from her again--

--until she heard a sound. It was Dr. Tofu again. It sounded like he was 
talking to someone but it sounded so far away, like someone had stuffed 
her ears with cotton. She tried her eyes again and found a slight 
comfort in their opening.

She looked towards Tofu. His back was turned to her and he was talking 
to Dad, both their arms crossed into their sleeves. She tried to say 
<Doctor Tofu, Dad, what's going on?> but all she could emit was a hoarse 
mumble.

That was all it took, though. Dad had stopped looking at Tofu and turned 
to look at her. She strained a tiny smile--at least she thought so, her 
face was numb. Dad's eyes widened and his arms opened. Tofu turned his 
head to see what Dad was looking at and went to Akane.

Checking her pulse, he asked: "Akane, is anything wrong?"

Later, she would view this question as a little absurd, obviously a lot 
of things were wrong, but right now she could only think of one thing.

"Thirsty," she croaked in a whisper.

Dad needed no prompting. He was gone only seconds before returning with 
a cup of water. She tried to reach for it but Dr. Tofu gently pushed her 
arms back down.

"It's okay. Don't move."

Tilting her head up slightly, he brought the cup to her lips. Nothing 
had ever tasted so sweet. She thought that the water would be absorbed 
before it made it to her stomach, her throat was so dry. Then she felt 
the water backing up and started coughing. She waited until the 
peristalsis finished to take her next sip. Then she couldn't get enough; 
it was as if her body was as empty as a swimming pool in winter. The 
cotton was also evaporating from her ears.

She gulped down the rest and asked for more, her voice better by a 
slight.

"Make sure you can keep down what you have now," Tofu warned.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"You were first treated in China. From there, you were brought here by 
boat. In all, it was five days."

"Five days?" she asked, bewildered. "I'm in Japan?"

He smiled at her. "Yup. It's Thursday."

She glanced at the room around her. She *was* in Tofu's clinic. The 
white panel ceiling. The green walls decorated with his various 
biological and anatomical charts. Betty hanging on her hook, bony as 
always.

Everything started to blur again.

"Woah, careful," he said. "You're still not strong enough."

Silently agreeing with him, she went back to sleep--

--and woke up again when Tofu opened the curtains on the window.

"Doctor," she called.

"Akane," he said in a pleasant mood, "what can I do for you?"

"I'd like to have something to eat please." She tried to sound as 
energetic as Tofu but her voice still betrayed her weakness, though not 
as much as before.

"Certainly," he said crossing the room and disappearing behind the drawn 
privacy curtain.

"What day is it?" she asked turning her head to follow him.

"Sunday. It's almost eleven." He left the room

She laid back on the bed.

Sunday. Eight days. She could barely comprehend the level of pain and 
damage she must have taken to leave her next to unconscious for more 
than a week even after living through it. She didn't think she was going 
to black out again--she hoped she wouldn't--but she could barely feel 
her toes.

<I'm probably going to have to stay here for *a lot* longer than eight 
days,> she thought. She closed her eyes as if she were creating a dam 
against the tears that threatened to well up.

Occupied with preventing waves of grief from splashing over her, she 
almost didn't notice the doctor enter the room again. She opened her 
eyes and wiped away the wetness before he came around the curtain.

She had to blink twice to make sure she was seeing properly. It wasn't 
the doctor. It was...Ranma.

He made no greeting, no sound. He was carrying a bed tray that he placed 
at Akane's feet. Moving up the bed, he gently lifted Akane until she was 
in a sitting position and fluffed the pillow to give her back some 
support. Lifting the tray again, he brought it to her waist, then sat on 
the stool beside the bed and crossed his arms on his lap.

He slowly blinked twice, a gesture he always made when he wanted to say 
hello. It was her turn to respond in fashion; instead she let her gaze 
fall to the tray.

Steamed rice and raw vegetables were all that decorated the lacquered 
wood tray, save for a pair of baked enamel chopsticks. She had lost her 
appetite.

Lifting her head with two fingers placed under her chin, Ranma's clear 
blue eyes gazed into hers, trying to convey the sorrow he felt. At last 
he spoke.

"Akane, I feel terrible."

"Ranma, what happened?"

"Bleach is gone. I blasted her with the Hiry� Shoten Ha and she went 
headfirst into a flying boulder."

"No, Ranma," she said shrinking from him to lie back. "I mean what 
happened to me that made you want to *sacrifice me?*"

Her voice was rising. His rose to match.

"What happened? Sacrifice you? I didn't think *anything* would happen to 
you. I expected you to stay back at the camp!"

"While you put yourself into the middle of a death stampede? Are you 
crazy?"

"If *that's* your logic, then, yeah! I must be clinically insane!"

"At least we agree on something," she mumbled, yet clearly enough so 
Ranma could hear.

Kicking the stool behind him, Ranma shot up. Teeth bared, fists 
clenched, Ranma glared at her, his head bobbing in time with his heaving 
breaths.

Though usually more indignant than Ranma, she tried to shield her head. 
She wept with fear and anger over not being able to defend herself in 
her present condition. Physically, and now emotionally, she was beaten.

To her relief--which sickened her even more--he dropped to his knees 
beside the bed. He propped his elbows on the mattress and clasped her 
one hand in his two. Resting his forehead on their hands, he closed his 
eyes.

"I apologise. For everything. I never wanted to hurt you nor ever wanted 
to see you hurt; I love you too much."

"I don't know...if I believe you," she said.

Ranma jerked his head up and stared at her as if he saw the edge of his 
world hurtling towards him. Tears rimmed the bottom of his eyes.

She wanted to forgive him. She wanted to throw her arms around him and 
never let him go. But she knew his reputation well. Sooner or later some 
new enemy would want to fight him and she would end up in the middle. Or 
in the line of fire. He would deny it if she was to tell him, but that 
wouldn't stop her from thinking about him repeating himself and she not 
being so fortunate next time.

"Akane--" he tried to start again.

"Just go," she said pulling her hand free. "I want to be alone." <'Cause 
that's how I feel right now.>

Getting up, he treaded quietly to the door. Tofu walked in. Ranma glared 
at him for a second then left the room dejectedly.

After hearing the front door shut, Akane flung the tray onto the floor. 
The dishes smashed against the tile and the edge of the wall. The 
chopsticks clattered under the bed and one snapped in half. She buried 
her head in her lap and sobbed.

?                    ?

She straightened up from her crouch. Staring at the vision of the 
flowers blurred and distorted by the wetness surrounding her eyes, Akane 
let out a long shuddering sigh.

After she had made it out of Tofu's clinic, she finally broke off Dad's 
engagement plans. Dad tried to plead with her but Ranma--knowing which 
engagement plans she meant--agreed and left at the behest of his father. 
Mr. Saotome didn't leave at first but finally conceded after two weeks 
had passed and Ranma didn't show up. Three more had passed when father 
and son showed up at the doorstep again. Ranma's mother, Nodoka, had 
kicked them out of her house and he had spent that time exhausting 
options until Mr. Saotome finally dragged him back. Everything had come 
full circle; Akane might as well have been back in her early days of 
high school, so little was different between then and now.

Wiping her eyes dry was a futile gesture when she realised how much time 
meant to her grief. She was eighteen. It was summertime. "The 
wedding..."

Racked once again with sobs, Akane squirreled herself into a ball. That 
was why she had remembered it so vividly now. She'd had nightmares about 
her ordeal for some time but it had faded like so many other memories. 
This was the first time in a long time since she had been able to recall 
it with such clarity.

With her arms wrapped around her legs, she let herself cry for a little 
bit more before forcing herself to calm down and get up.

Dusting herself off, she tried to hide the redness in her eyes. <Just 
let me make it to my room.>

The walkway, the door, the foyer; Akane did everything as quietly as her 
martial arts training had taught her. Barring her eyes with her arm but 
not needing sight she effortlessly strove through the very familiar 
house and up the stairs, towards her room. At the top of the stairs she 
crashed into someone and fell, sprawling against the wall.

She looked across the hall to see whom she bumped into and the sight of 
that familiar red hair dropped her further into melancholy.

"Ranma," she pushed through a sigh.

Ranma rubbed the spot where the back of her head hit the floor. "*Nngh.* 
Ow." She propped herself up on her free arm.

Akane stared at Ranma waiting for the next move, the first insult of the 
new round.

Ranma stood and rubbed the bump a few more times. "Sorry," she said. 
"Guess I wasn't looking where I was going. Need help?" She held out her 
hand.

Akane blinked once but remained unfazed. Ranma had played mind games 
with her before. "What are you doing?" she asked in a calm, yet cold, 
voice. She stared at the outstretched hand.

Now it was Ranma's turn to blink. She looked at her hand to try and see 
what Akane saw but tried again. "Do you need help getting up?"

Akane got up by herself. She turned her back to Ranma and started 
walking towards her room. "I don't have time for this. I won't play your 
games."

"What games?" Ranma asked, bewildered.

Akane stopped halfway down the hall. "Don't try to lay this 'innocence' 
bullshit on me. It's a pretty weak defence," she said, turning around. 
Ranma still looked like she had no clue what was going on. 

Nabiki came up the stairs. "Akane, when did you get home?" she asked. 
Then, when she could, she saw Ranma and stopped. She muttered, "Uh oh."

Moving to block her from a possible attack, Nabiki said, "Ranma. Why 
don't you go downstairs? Dinner is almost ready."

Ranma cast a glance at Nabiki. "Okay." She edged by her, took a final 
look at Akane, and left.

Nabiki watched her go and turned back to Akane. "Sis..."

"Don't you start with me Nabiki, I don't have the time."

"But, Akane..."

"I said--"

"He's been hurt!" she shouted.

Akane turned at this. The iciness wasn't gone, but her sister's 
uncharacteristic outburst caused it to recede slightly. "What?"

"You hurt him, and now he can't remember you."

"What?" she asked flatly, disbelieving.

"He can't remember any of us. His memory is...gone," she finished 
quietly.

"Nabiki, if this is a joke--"

"It's not a joke, I've seen the proof. Just look at *her* at dinner. And 
watch your personal pronouns. We don't want to confuse her."

She stared at Nabiki for a few more seconds. "Fine," she said at last. 
"Just let me get cleaned up."

"Fine, see you downstairs." And she left.

Akane watched her go. She let out a sigh. <This had better be good.>

END CHAPTER 8

Authors Note's:

Wow. This chapter was so big Hotmail wouldn't let me fit it all in one 
message.<silently curses Bill Gates>
Anyway. After that one humiliating episode in November, I have learned 
from my missteaks. ^w^

When I posted chapters 1-7 the responses were less than what I hoped 
for...I only got five. So, I'm going to try something that someone told 
me indirectly.

Any and all C&C, MSTs, flames, letter bombs, post-it notes, and giant 
wombats(sorry, John) will be accepted. But please send at least one copy 
to me privately, as I will be setting my subscription to vacation-mode 
for the holidays. (The university doesn't like people breaking in, even 
if it's only to read their mail.) And don't forget to respond to 
previous chapters either. As RNU doesn't have a website yet (he hinted 
shamelessly) anyone looking for previous chapters need but e-mail me so 
that I may forward them.

Like Tuxedo Mask said:
Meerii kurisutomasu, ando a happi nyuu iia!

Bye!

- Shakudo -
Eternal Worshiper of Makoto Kino, Ukyo Kuonji, and Kiyone Mabiki.
Holder of the files of Ranma Nibun no Usugurami and Sailor Moon D

Email: shakudo@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.Im_broke_so_dont_click.com

I love the way those cute little anime girls say, "kawaii!"


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