Howdy all!

Once again, I bring little pieces of me for your enjoyment 
and perusal...All known as The All-Americans...

I can't believe I whipped this out (No Blazing Saddles 
jokes, please) in one day!

Anyway, grab a friend, long necked or otherwise, and 
enjoy...

Copyright Notice:
I looked around here and noticed that none of these 
characters are mine...Some are borrowed, most are 
stolen...All are used in deference to the original. Salud!

***

The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 12 - Eye of the Storm

Dinner was good, Ranma thought, But when Kasumi's 
home, it's always good.

The rest of the weekend had passed without anything else 
happening, which was good. Kasumi had come home for 
the first time since her classes had begun. She was so happy 
to see the family, she wanted to cook dinner for everyone 
that night.

Ranma didn't object as he always loved her cooking. 
Ukyou had stayed until late Saturday night. She still looked 
weary and worn, but had wanted to get back to her own 
bed. Neither she nor Akane had told him what had 
happened that night, and it worried Ranma further. It wasn't 
like her to hide things from him.

The family laughed as Nabiki told some joke. Ranma 
wasn't really listening, but laughed anyway. He shook 
himself out of his thoughts when it was revealed that 
Kasumi had the interest of a certain young man at the 
college.

"His name is Ono," Kasumi said, blushing, "Doctor Tofu 
Ono."

"Doctor?!" Nabiki and Akane chorused together.

"Kasumi?" Akane grinned at her elder sister, "Are you 
dating one of your professors?"

"Akane!" Nodoka said, not wanting to embarrass Kasumi 
into not telling them.

"Well, he's not MY professor," she said, smiling at the 
thought, "He's A professor, but not mine."

It was Nodoka's turn to blush and gape at the thought. 
Kasumi blushed as well, when Nabiki began to whoop and 
yell. Akane soon joined her in the wolf whistles. The 
teasing commenced, but she accepted the general 
atmosphere of congratulations.

***

Nodoka tightened the bun in her hair as she sat at her 
computer. She had already been typing away at policies for 
almost an hour. She looked at the clock. Six-thirty. Am. 
She sighed. It was days like this that she wished she had the 
ability to sleep as well as the children.

Children. Ranma had turned into quite a dashing young 
man. Akane and Nabiki were well prepared young women, 
though not as prepared as she would have liked. And 
Kasumi was now dating a doctor in college. One of the 
professors, no less. They weren't really children anymore.

Clickety-clickety-click. More typing. Clickety-clickety-
clickety-knock.

Knock?

"I'll get it," Nabiki said from the kitchen.

Who could it have been at six-thirty in the morning? 
Monday morning no less? Curiosity got the better of 
Nodoka and she went into the kitchen from the office. 
There were a couple of familiar voices coming from the 
livingroom, but Akane was hiding, her back towards the 
refrigerator. She held a finger up, asking Nodoka to not 
reveal her location. Nodoka nodded once and went into the 
livingroom.

Why, it was that boy Ryouga. And Ranma's other friend, 
Ukyou. Nodoka had been worried about Ukyou and Akane 
after they had come back Friday night. Akane had said that 
they'd been attacked and Ranma and Ukyou had fought 
them off. They had a couple minor cuts and Ukyou had a 
nasty bruise on his leg. Ranma seemed to be confused 
about their attackers however and Nodoka didn't feel they 
were telling her the whole truth. It was odd.

Apparently Ryouga was in the fight as well because his arm 
was in a sling. Nodoka went to help, but he waved her off 
from even looking at it. Even though he winced every time 
he moved. He just wanted to speak to Ranma.

"Okay, he should be in his room, getting ready," Nodoka 
said, standing aside.

Ryouga trotted purposefully upstairs. Nodoka looked to 
Ukyou, who was carrying a large bundle. She patted the 
bundle and sat down. Nodoka thought that she was just 
probably waiting, since it was obvious that Ryouga couldn't 
ride his motorcycle. Ukyou was probably driving that nice 
mustang of his. Excusing herself, Nodoka returned to her 
computer and resumed typing. She wondered if Akane or 
Nabiki might be interested in Ukyou as a boyfriend. He 
seemed nice enough...

***

There was a knock at the door. Ranma looked up from his 
backpack. His mother? She was busy at the computer. It 
wasn't Nabiki or Akane. They never knocked.

"Enter."

The door opened and Ryouga came inside. Ranma was 
definitely surprised. Not for seeing Ryouga this early 
Monday morning, but that his arm was in a sling.

"Dude, what happened?" Ranma said, pulled a chair over 
for him.

Ryouga closed the door and collapsed into the chair. He 
was obviously exhausted, probably from the pain in his 
arm. Ranma could tell that it was broken, but just barely.

"Akane broke my arm when she attacked me on Friday," 
Ryouga said.

"Yeah, it sounded like it, but you took off before I got to 
look at it," Ranma said as he examined the arm, "This looks 
like a hairline fracture, but it'll split wide open unless you 
get some kind of treatment."

"Yeah I will, but I came here to ask you a favor," Ryouga 
said, putting his arm back in the sling.

"Okay," Ranma said, hesitantly, "What is it?"

"I need to you to help me hide this from the coach for a 
week or two. This is an easy break to fix, I just need time to 
do it."

Ranma balked slightly at this. Fooling the coach on 
something little was one thing. Helping an injured player 
play against the team rules was another. They could both 
get banned from sports for it.

"Ryouga, I don't know-"

"Come on Ranma!" Ryouga insisted, "If you can control 
your spirit energy as well as I can, which I think you do, 
then you can fix small breaks like this in no time. Well, so 
can I. Something that Grandfather taught me while I lived 
with him."

"You do realize that next week is the Arlington game?" 
Ranma asked.

Ryouga reached over and smacked him lightly on the top of 
his head.

"Dumbass!" he said at the same time, "Of course I know! 
They're the cause of this!"

"But I thought you said-"

"Dammit Ranma!" Ryouga said, getting up.

Ryouga walked to the window and looked out. A cold 
October wind blew outside, calling the foliage to turn it's 
myriad colors. Ryouga sighed and turned back to Ranma.

"I'm going to play in the Arlington game," he said.

"Not with a broken arm you're not," Ranma said, shaking 
his head.

Ryouga came over to him and all but got on his knees.

"Ranma, please, don't keep me out. Help me with this 
dammit!" he pleaded, "It's the one game of the season that 
means a damn."

"Ryouga, if the other team finds out you have a broken 
arm, they WILL break it the rest of the way!"

"Ranma, I'm doing this with or without your help," Ryouga 
said.

He turned and began to leave. Ranma was flustered. What 
should he-?

"Ryouga, why'd you come here anyway?"

"'Cause I'd rather not break my arm!" he snapped, but then 
he softened, "And because...I thought...I thought I could 
trust you."

Ranma inhaled sharply at that. Ryouga thought he could 
trust...But then that would mean that they really WERE 
friends now. Ranma smiled. It took long enough.

"Yeah, okay. So what do we do now?" Ranma said, 
returning to gather his backpack.

Ryouga stood by the door and thought for a minute.

"I don't know."

Ranma laughed lightly and sat back down on the bed. 
Ryouga slumped down into the chair and winced as pain 
shot through his arm. Ranma thought for a second and 
looked over at the clock. The time said they'd have to leave 
soon. For school. Their school. A smile made it's way 
across Ranma's lips as a plan formed. Ryouga saw this and 
gave him a questioning glance. Ranma jumped to his feet 
and grabbed his pack.

"I've got an idea," Ranma said, pulling Ryouga with him, 
"But we're going to need some help."

***

"Nabiki, where's Akane?" Ukyou asked, watching Ryouga 
climb the stairs to Ranma's room.

"She's in the kitchen, hiding from Ryouga," Nabiki replied 
with a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Is he gone?" Akane said, peeking around the corner into 
the livingroom.

"Akane, we need to talk about this," Ukyou sighed.

"What's to talk about?" Akane snorted, taking a seat across 
from Ukyou, "After what he did, he's lucky I don't kill 
him."

"Akane, he didn't do it."

"Yes he did!" Akane almost shouted, "I was there, okay? I 
think I should know-"

"Akane, I can prove he didn't do it."

Akane paused as she considered this.

"How?"

Ukyou scooped up the little articles and magazines that 
covered the coffee table in front of her. She brought up a 
large something bundled in burlap. She set it down 
unceremoniously and unwrapped it. Akane inhaled sharply 
and backed away slightly at the sight before her. The last 
time she saw this, Ryouga had somehow taken it from 
Toma and was using it to prop himself up with. Toma's 
sword. Akane could now see the intricate writings along the 
length of the blade itself. Her eyes were drawn however to 
the brightly glittering gem set in the pommel. The blue 
stone almost spoke to her.

"This is the sword that that Toma kid had," she breathed.

"Uh-huh," Ukyou said lowly, "The MindFucker."

Both looked up at Nabiki as she burst into laughter. She 
quickly saw that the name was not something that she 
should laugh at and quickly withdrew into the bathroom. 
Ukyou just shook her head.

"As Ryouga explains it, Toma uses this sword as a chi 
antenna," Ukyou explained, "Do you know what chi is?"

"Ranma told us," Akane said, nodding.

"Okay. Well, Toma then sends his thoughts through this 
sword. His goons surrounded us because the chi needs a 
living barrier to keep the signal strong," Ukyou continued, 
"Otherwise it would just bleed off to the surrounding area."

"But Ryouga-"

"Ryouga's not affected because of how he uses chi. He 
didn't want our help because he's the only one not affected 
by this sword or Toma."

"Okay," Akane said, still skeptical, "But that just proves 
that Ryouga can tell a good story. Why should I even think 
that he should be trusted again? Why-"

"Touch the blade."

Akane hesitated as she studied Ukyou.

"Why?" she asked.

"Like I said, this is Toma's sword. It holds the residual 
effects of his chi, but it's not susceptible to his illusions," 
Ukyou said, "I touched the blade, now I know the truth."

Akane hesitated again. Why? Why was she even 
hesitating? Didn't she really want Ryouga to not be guilty 
of what she thought he-She couldn't bring herself to 
remember. She had to know.

Akane reached slowly and touched the blade. From 
somewhere within the metal of the blade, it pulsed brightly 
once in her mind and visions and memories came flooding 
back to her.

She began to sob as she saw Ryouga-No, wait. Ukyou was 
right. It wasn't Ryouga, it was Toma. He pulled Akane 
down and...Akane tried to shut her eyes to the images that 
forced themselves into her head. The more she saw, the 
angrier she became.

That little...! she thought, I'll kill him! I'll rip off his...And 
shove it down his throat! I'll-

The images stopped abruptly and Akane opened her eyes. 
Ukyou had taken her hand from the sword.

"Do you believe me now?" she asked quietly, "Ryouga 
didn't do it."

Akane lowered her eyes to the sword and nodded.

Oh God, Ryouga...Akane began to cry in fully now. She 
yelled at him. God the things she said...

There was a noise behind her and Akane tried to hide her 
tears as Ryouga and Ranma came down the stairs. Ranma 
nodded to Ukyou and they walked outside. Ryouga picked 
up the sword and carefully wrapped it back in the burlap. 
He turned from Akane without a word said and went to 
follow Ranma and Ukyou.

"Ryouga, please wait a minute," Akane said as she rose 
from her seat.

"I have to go Akane. Ukyou has to drive me because you..." 
he said, holding up the arm in the sling.

"I..." Akane said quietly, "I hurt your arm?"

Ryouga nodded. Ryouga sighed and spoke without turning 
around.

"Akane, I love you and I realize that you probably can't 
love someone like me. It's not easy, but at least I can be 
happy being your friend," Ryouga said, "That is, if you 
want?"

Akane rushed to him and hugged him from behind, crying 
into his back.

"Please forgive me," she whimpered.

Ryouga turned around, dropping the sword and held her out 
to arms length.

"I will if you do something for me."

Akane sniffled once and nodded.

"Trust me," he said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek, 
"Trust me Akane. I would never do anything to hurt you. 
Will you trust me?"

His large brown eyes told her that he would always be 
there...Like he always had. She wiped her eyes and nodded 
sharply.

"I trust you."

Ryouga smiled.

"Come on, Ranma had an idea about..." he said, raising his 
arm, "This."

Akane blushed and followed him out.

***

As the cars sped away, the room floated back into the quiet 
peace of the Monday morning. Nabiki got up from her 
place on the stairs and made her way to the livingroom. 
There was a brief, hot and sharp flash of light as the 
covering slipped away from the sword...

***

Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
"Stone Cold Protector of the Righteous"
"Owner of The Anime Bar and Grille - The Best Ribs in the Multiverse"

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