Boys and girls, what's up? stories, stories everywhere. pretty good for a 
Saturday.

                Ranma 1/2: Reality Bites, Hard.
                          Part 4(Beta)

                        By Bruce R. Brunk
                      brbrunk@agora.rdrop.com

  This is the last? pre-release version of Part 4.  I return (I can
hear my head swelling with that line) to the form I used in Part 1. 
Three chapters here, done from the perspective of 1-2 people in the
chapter. I'm always looking for any comments your willing to make
(this means you.) Thank you for your responses.  As comedies are
harder to write than dramas, (especially for a guy who's last
fictional writing attempt was when he was 10) and the subject matter
(of my story, not Ranma) isn't all that funny to begin with, don't
expect multiple, intentional chuckles. (Laughing at my writing is a
whole other subject.)

Again, comments (basicly the old ones) at the end.



[* Insert standard "This is my first fanfic attempt don't flame" whine. *] 

Hate this, don't flame me, I'll ignore it.  If you would
like me to just go back to lurker mode, too late.



[* Insert standard legal jargon. *]
  IE none of the characters are mine, they ultimately belong to Rumiko
Takahashi.  She can sue me for everything I'm worth and come out with
less money than she started with. Various copyrights 1989 and 1995 by
Whomever in Japan and the United States (Viz and R.T. I don't really
know whom holds what.) So on with the show.




Chapter 5

   Two screams, one horrified, one agonized spurred Tofu on as fast as
he could towards Ranma's room.  Knowing full well what the high
pitched girl's scream meant, he rammed his way through the small crowd
that had quickly gathered around the doorway.  Not bothering to look
at the bed or its occupant, he moved to the sink.  He felt the spout
as he turned on the hot water, it was cold and moist against his hand.
He looked around for a container.  The glasses were too small,
rummaging around the cabinets frantically, the only thing large enough
to hold enough water was a bed pan.  Yanking it from the cabinet with
one hand as he checked the stream of water with the other.  Finally!
it's hot enough!

  Waiting for the pan to fill seemed to take an eternity.  He looked
over at the bed.  He grimaced, bad, it was as bad.  The traction cast,
bent at the elbow, made to help heal Ranma as a boy, was now
threatening to tear the much shorter girl-Ranma's arm out of it's
socket.  Her arm an fingers had slipped into the cast a little but it
was obviously not enough to relieve the stress imposed on her arm.

  When the pan started to overflow Tofu carefully carried it over to
Ranma and doused her with the water.  He dropped the the pan, moved
over to where he can reach the writhing boys neck, using two fingers
of each hand he strikes Ranma's neck precisely in the four points of
the "Chiisai Na Neko Nemuri Ten." The "Kitten Sleep Point" knocks
Ranma unconscious.

  He quickly turned to the crowd and the normally quiet man barked out
orders with a force behind them few had ever heard him use.  "Some of
you get the boy out of here!  Get the cast off him, I want an MRI
done, and him in OR ASAP!"

  He tried his best to calm down, closing his eyes and taking a few
deep breaths before he turned to Ranma's nurse.  "Ok, Tell me what
happened."

  "He, he, changed."  The nurse was still looking at Ranma, her face
very pale.

  Trying to sound calm Tofu responded, "I know, before that."

  "Well, I came back.  He said he was still thirsty and could he
please have some more water.  I was giving him some and he sneezed. 
The straw went flying, I tried to grab it and spilled the water on
him, her?"  She looked up at Tofu, as if to ask a question.  Her
expression one of complete shock.

  "Didn't you read the special care instructions regarding no cold
liquids?"

  "I didn't see any."

  Really?  Tofu grabbed Ranma's chart.  He looked closely at the first
page, then the second, and then the third.  The frown on his face
deepened with each page turn.  He flipped back to the front again and
quickly skimmed the entire file.  His expression didn't change when he
spoke to the nurse, but his voice became calm and apologetic.  "Please
forgive me if I have offended you.  You acted as you should have. 
Would you please go find Mendo-sensei and ask him to meet me in OR?  I
should be down there in ten to fifteen minutes?"

  The nurse nodded and walked out of the room.  Tofu watched some
orderlies move the still unconscious Ranma out of the room.  His eyes
caught Genma, out in the hall, watching his son being carted back to
surgery.  He didn't want to put more pressure on the man's shoulders,
but he had no choice.

  "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, and with the power of attorney
you signed, I suppose I could do this on my own, but that would be
very wrong.  I'm going to have to ask you to come inside."

  He picked Dr. Yaun out from the crowd, pointed to him, "You and I
are going to have a little talk.  Get in here."

  Tofu directed himself to the remaining people in the crowd.  His
voice betraying his true emotions as it got louder and angrier.  "Now
will the rest of you please, Get Back TO WORK!"

  The bystanders quickly remembered other places they needed to be,
and hurriedly left.  One bright person closed the door behind them,
knowing what was probably to come.

  After calming down again, Tofu spoke with Genma.  "I no longer
consider Mr. Yaun competent to treat your son.  It is, however, your
choice who takes care of your son,  but I will no longer associate
myself with him.  Unfortunately that forces you to decided between the
two of us.  Whom are going to have lead your son's recovery?"

  Genma didn't really understand what was going on.  He only knew that
Ranma was hurt again, and one of these men felt the other was
responsible.  Long, drawn-out logic was still beyond him.  He knew
Tofu.  "You have my trust Tofu-sensei."

  While he was relieved, the word "trust" hurt him.  He had failed in
his duties. He had assumed Yaun would do his job well and didn't
double-check him.  

  "Thank you, Genma.  I will do my best to live up to your faith in
me."  Tofu walked up to the door and opened it. "That's all I needed
you for.  Could you please leave us alone for a while.  I'll talk to
you after I've seen to Ranma."

  Genma obediently walked out of the room and turned towards the
waiting room as the door behind him.

  Tofu felt he had failed once,  but he would not do that again.  He
addressed Yaun, never quite yelling, though his voice did brake with
anger every once in a while.  "What happened to my treatment notes I
gave you for Ranma, the ones I gave you several copies of?"

  "They didn't make any sense.  Nothing's wrong with cold water."

  "I as far as I'm concerned, you are finished here, go home!  I don't
care how good you are with a knife, you are a rude, self-possessed
idiot whom never should have been handed a degree.  You will never
work on one of my patients again!"

  "How dare you, you little pip squeak chiropractor, talk to me like
that!"

  "You, Mr. Yaun, are rude to me, crass to your patient's friends and
family, and criminally negligent with your very patients!  Even though
I have intentionally hurt no one since becoming a doctor, after I go
straighten out the mess we made, I'll be happy to go out with you to
the parking lot and show you what sort of pip squeak I am.  To be
fair to you, before you do, I suggest you ask Administrator Hashimoto
about what Kim-chan's little boy is capable of.  And while you're
there maybe you can explain to him why you risked your patients safety
by just ignoring my suggestions instead of asking me to clarify them
if you were unclear as to why I made them!"

  Tofu adjusted his glasses, opened the door and left.  Leaving Dr.
Yaun standing there, alone.


Chapter 6

  Genma was in panda form, as he had been most of the time since he
had returned from the hospital.  About the only time he would change
back was when he would go to see his son.  He was staring at the fish
in the pond.  Their lives where so simple, swim, be feed, swim some
more.  All they had to watch out for where people falling in the
water. He wished he could learn that peacefully simplicity from them. 
Life was quite around the dojo, but peace had been long absent from
his soul.

  He turned to pick up some more bamboo and his eyes stopped at the
hallway, the hallway leading to the phone.  As he had so many times
in the last couple of weeks, he knows he should call, but no, he'll do
it later.

  Yesterday, Ranma had finally been able to move his thumb and index
finger.  The doctors had probably expected that to make him feel
better.  Genma's mind isn't on the two "good" fingers, it's on the
three bad ones.

  Not only was the nerve damage weighing on him, but Ranma's change
had been too much for his already damaged shoulder.  Mendo-sensei had
said that he couldn't expect a full recovery.  The damage to Ranma's
rotator cup was enough by itself to ensure that. 

  Lost in his own thoughts, he refuses to respond to the footsteps
that come up behind him.  When he went to get more food, his eyes got
no further than the hall, the phone, before turning back to the pond. 
There still was no response from him when source of the footsteps
moved off.  He remained unresponsive as the footsteps returned, a bit
heavier than before.

  The walls he had built up, hiding him from the world, fell before
the torrent of scalding water that hit him from behind.  He turned
around to look upon his tormenter.  Tendo.

  "Did you have to do that, Tendo?" He asked in a flat voice.

  "Yeah, I did."  Tendo sounded angry.  "I need to clean some dirt off
my porch."

  Genma didn't get get the reference.  "You could have asked me to
move."

  "You are the dirt I'm talking about!  Sitting here doing nothing,
day after day.  If you weren't hooked on hiding out as a panda, you'd
be eating me out of house and home.  You are pathetic.  I don't know
why I ever even considered agreeing to a marriage between our two
families.  You're a loser Saotome." Tendo slapped Genma in the face,
just to make sure he heard the last part.  "You, your son, even your
STUPID wife's a loser, getting stuck with you!"

  Tendo's last sentence had it's desired effect on Genma.  Nothing
Soun had said before had effected him, he had told himself the same
things time and time again.  But now Tendo had brought Nodoka into
this!  There was enough left of the old Genma Saotome inside of him
not to be willing to take that!  Screaming "Die!!!" he launched
himself at his old friend.

  Soun felt relieved, now, if he could just survive the next few
minutes.  Saotome's blows were coming wild.  He tried not to block
them, he didn't want Saotome's mind to start thinking tactics. 
Instead, when he could, he'd take the blow on his arms and roll
with the impacts.

  He kept backing up, Saotome kept charging, swinging ever harder as
he went. Soun ducked and dodged and took blows when he had to, only
fighting back enough to keep Saotome engaged.  

  For a while Tendo managed to keep Genma moving in circles in the yard,
but eventually Genma realized this and he forced Tendo to move in a less
patterned way.  

  Soun found himself, slowly but surely, being driven into a corner. 
Too soon for his liking he steps on to a root of the tree in the
corner, then his back hits up against the trunk.

  With his back to the tree Soun knew he had to do something
different.  Saotome wound up  and released an overhand right aimed
straight at his head.  Not able to move effectively to the right or
left, Soun dodges down, doing the splits.  He immediately wished he
hadn't as he proved to himself that he wasn't as young as he once was.

  Genma's blow missed Tendo's head, smashing into the tree.  There
followed a loud series of creaks and groans as the top part of the
slowly fell over, smashing into and knocking a rather large size gap
in the back wall.  Genma stood there, breathing heavily, with his arm
still extended.

  Looking down at Tendo he said, "You know, Tendo, we haven't gone at
it like this in a long time." He caught his breath.  "Spending all my
time with that ingrate son of mine has got me out of shape."

  "Good, now that's the Genma Saotome I remember!  You feeling better
now old friend?"

  "Yeah, I guess so."

  Tendo got up and put his arm around his friend's shoulders and guided
him back into the house.  "That's better, I have a shogi board that
hasn't been used in over a week."

  As the two men walked in, Genma's eyes again locked on the hall to
the phone.  He knows what he has to do, he has to call her, it's his
duty.  Later.  He'll do it later.  Maybe later.


Chapter 7

  "Nabiki no baka!  For the money I paid you I deserve better
instructions than this!" Muttered a shivering Ukyou, who hung by one
of her small spatulas which was embedded in a crack in the mortar, one
story up, staring into a window.  **Nope, not in that one.**

  Y500 to find out find out that Ran-chan and Akane were "under the
weather."  Y1000 to find out which hospital he was in.  Then she found
out that the hospital wouldn't let her see him.  Then Nabiki charged
her Y5000 for "information as to the whereabouts of Ranma's room."
"Second story, west-side, somewhere around the center of the building"
was not worth Y5000.  No way, not when it meant sneaking around the
middle of the night, freezing, 12 feet up, peeping into windows.

  This was some old guys room.  Using the spatula in her other hand to
get a grip further across the face of the building, she worked her way
towards window number four.  There he was, asleep, a huge, white
shell-like cast surrounding his upper-body holding his left arm bent
at the elbow.

  She didn't want to wake him but she needed to speak with him, just
be with him.  He was there, her closest and oldest friend, and no one
would let her even speak with him.  She tried for three weeks to stay
away.  She even heard what happened to Kodachi.  She wasn't about to
let it happen to her, but the threat wasn't going to stop her.

  Hanging again by one spatula, she tapped the window with her other
spatula.  He didn't respond.  She tapped again.  He stirred, squinted
at the window, then extended his right arm and motioned for her to
come in.

  She wedged the free spatula in between the right hand sill and the
window itself.  She kept forcing it in farther, until she felt it push
against the catch and force it to open, clearing the block holding the
window shut.  She leveraged the window open a ways and then put the
spatula back into her bandolier.  She pushed the widow the rest of the
way open with her hand and climbed inside.  Ukyou put the other
spatula away, did something to her belt that Ranma couldn't see and
shut the window.

  As Ukyou walks up to Ranma's bed, she decides he looked only
slightly tired in the light streaming in from the parking lot.  To
Ukyou he looked happy to see her, but also somehow, depressed.

  "Hey, Ucchan, what're you doing here?" Ranma whispered worriedly. 
"Didn't you hear what happened to Kodachi?  You really should get of
here."

  "Is the really that bad?" She whispered back.

  "She huge! 6'1"-6'2" 235-240lbs, and from what I heard from Pop and
Mendo-sensei, she destroyed Kodachi."

  "Don't worry, I don't plan to go running down the hallway,
challenging anyone who gets in my way, not my style."

  "Good, I don't want you getting hurt."

  "Oh, Ran-chan," Ukyou hoped to get Ranma to say he loved her, "Do
you really mean that?!" 

  "Sure, your the oldest friend I've got.  The other only one who
comes close is Ryoga, and all he ever does is to attempt to kill me."

  "Oh."  She tried to hide her disappointment.  Her face didn't
change, but one could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked over
at the window.  She turned back, "Now, how are you doing?"

  Ranma didn't look into her eyes.  "Well, last week I started moving a
couple of fingers, so I guess I'm on the mend."

 She is unsure of what to make of  his answer.  His words and his body
told two different stories.  "How's the food?"  

  He stared at her, looking disgusted, "Man, you had to remind me! 
It's almost as bad... erm. It really stinks!"

  "Well," Ukyou pretended to ignore the reference to Akane, "I can fix
that!"

  She moved back to the window, grabbed a thin cord Ranma hadn't seen
earlier, opened the window, and started to reel it in.  At the end of
the cord the was a bread box sized container which she grabbed and
then sat it and herself on Ranma's bed.  Ukyou undid a few latches and
popped open the lid.  Ranma looked in on the contents.

  "Hmm, A small okinomiyaki, tea, spring rolls, dim sung, kwang
pau chicken, and pau tzu.  You really went all out here!"

  "Yeah, but this time don't eat the little black peppers."

  Ranma, feeling insulted responded, "Hey, I was only six then!  Jeez,
tell you one story and you keep rubbing it in." He looks at Ukyou,
"Why, are, you, looking at me like that?"

  "Because silly, in your state, you can't feed yourself."  she
giggled evilly, "Guess I'll have to do it."

  *Gulp* "You aint going to try anything funny, are you?"

  "Oh, be quiet or go hungry!"

  Ranma more or less stayed quite as he ate.  Ukyou chatted about
school, her restaurant, the weather, in part trying to cheer Ranma up
and in part, just because she was happy to be with him.  He was right,
irregardless of her desire to marry him, they each had very few long
term friends.  They had devoted too much time in their lives to their
training to have many.

  She again wonders if this is why Ran-chan had never totally
destroyed Ryoga.  The fact that the two of them had a past meant
enough to him to let Ryoga stay around. They may be friends, but she
wanted more than that.  She felt that if she could only get him to
think of her as a woman and not as a boy.  She understood that
somewhere, deep down, he still thought of her as the little boy he
played with in his past.

  As he swallowed the last bite, she gave him the rest of the tea to
wash it down and cleaned his face off saying, "Sorry about the chicken,
I just couldn't resist."

  Ranma chuckled, "That's ok, did I mention that Pop was gonna turn my
reaction into some kind of special attack?"

  Ukyou looked puzzled. "Running around in circles, holding you throat
with both hands, crying 'HOT!', and then falling down kicking your
feet in the air?  What sort of attack is that?" 

  "He never figured that part out.  He said I was displaying great
foot speed though.  Oh man, can you imagine the number of handfuls of
those things he would have made me eat?"

  "Well, it's your own fault.  You should have realized that if your
father wasn't eating them, then there must have been a reason.  But
no, you had to go and grab a whole handful and stuff them in your
mouth, baka."  She continued to tease him.

 "Hey! I was HUNGRY!"

  Both of them froze.  Had that out burst been loud enough to be
heard on the other side of the door?  Ukyou quietly gathered up her
things, in case she had to make a quick exit.

  After a time he continued, quieter, "He was hogging it all and I
thought they were just something that he was saving for later!"

  The two of them looked at each other, and then, as if on cue they
both started giggling.

  Ukyou recovered first, "Would you mind if I was to come back 
tomorrow?"

  "No, I wouldn't mind, please do.  I don't get to see anybody but
Pop, Tofu-sensei, and the staff.   I've been getting really bored."

  "Should I bring you anything?"

  "Food.  Good food, and more of it, please.  You have no idea how
lame the food they serve here is."

  "Ok, I see you tomorrow night then?"

  "I don't think I'll be going any where." He sounded disgusted as he
answered.

  "You better not!" she responded with mock anger, as she checked out
the window to see that no one was looking.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  Ukyou waited until she was once again hanging by one of her spatulas
and preparing to shut the window.  "I'll tell you tomorrow."


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments(Spam):
  When I started this I had planed on a three part, 60-90K little
tale.  Phhhhhhhhhht!  It looks now like it will take me 7-8 parts and
double to triple the size to finish it. (And you wondered why I said
my predicting abilities where on par with tabloid psychics.)

  This part ended up being shorter than I had expected(would have
liked.)  Oh well, If I'd added an extra chapter, the ending would have
been a lot weaker and I can't think of much to add to the three
chapters I presented.

  You know, this is supposed to be a story about Ranma.  But before
chapter 7 all he'd done was insult Akane's cooking twice and asked for
some water.  Not a whole lot of character development for the male
lead.

Biggest worry, still chapter 6.  Minor add to the phone bit.

I actually like chapters 5 and 7. (Oh-oh, I'm in trouble now!) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks:

God, for giving me the life and talent I have.

Carl Macek, for hacking together Robotech, for without it, I'd still
have a credit rating. :(

Rumiko Takahashi, for hours of fun and laughter. Also for providing 
the Ranma world, which I'm trashing up here.

Animego and Viz, for getting me Ms. Takahashi's works to me in a form I can
understand and legally own.  

White Wolf, for starting the fanfic ML, where I began to spam this out.

Hitomi_Ichinohei, for providing the example and inspiration the take 
the plunge.

and in classic, Last-But-Certainly-Not-Least form, tons o' thanks to:

Windlily, for, let us say, removing the by-products from the meat.  I owe
you big time.

What's Next?
------------
If you care:
Clean up the last bits of part 4.
Finish part 5.
Stop being an idiot and get 3 & 4 to r.a.a.s, successfully.

Part 5 Highlights.
-----------------------
  My ability to predict chapter contents puts me on par with the
National Enquirer's psychics.  So take this with a grain of salt, it
all will happen, I can't say when.

Three or four of the following:

Vincible Defender Ryoga.
Two "Babes" and Akane
Ranma and Ukyou, Take 2.
Ranma and "Her."


Bruce

 ___________________________________________ _______________________________
| Bruce R. (just call me Ryoga) Brunk       | All those animals.            |
| Lake Oswego, Oregon                       | People eating Akane's cooking |
| Senior Systems Engineer, FEI America, Inc.| and liking it....   Something |
| brbrunk@agora.rdrop.com                   | weird is going on here!       |
| brbrunk@industrial.com                    | - Saotome Ranma               |
|___________________________________________|_______________________________|
| Executive Engineer, Hardware.  H.A.C.K.S. |   Nene, have your cake        |
| Honored Attendees of the Cute Knight Saber|       and eat it too.         |
|___________________________________________|_______________________________|