***  ###  ***

The next morning, would-be customers found there was a sign on the Uuchan
that read "Closed until Further Notice."  The proprietor of that
establishment was still at the Tendou Dojo, waiting for further news of
Ranma's condition.

Akane, after a troubled night's sleep, was coming down the stairs when the
silence of the morning was shattered by the strident ring of the telephone.
Akane was over the rail and had the receiver to her ear before there was
time for a second ring.  "Moshi moshi," she said, "Tendou Dojo."  There was
a brief pause while she listened to the person on the other end of the
line.  "Hai.  I'll get him for you - please hold on for a second."  Akane
found Dr. Tofu dozing by the extension phone, and Kasumi cuddled beside
him, her head pillowed on his lap.  She smiled sadly to herself, wishing
that she didn't have to awaken them.

By the time Dr. Tofu was off the phone, Akane had everyone else gathered,
waiting to hear the latest news.  Dr. Tofu looked around the sea of anxious
faces.  He took a deep breath and told them what he had learned.  "Ranma...
Ranma is out of surgery..." he began.  A wave of relieved sighs greeted
this pronouncement, but Tofu held up his hand.  "However," he continued,
"he has not regained consciousness;  he is in a deep coma."

"But he made it, he's going to be OK, right?"  Akane looked so hopeful, Dr.
Tofu hated what he had to say next.

"They don't know.  Several of his ribs were broken and the internal damage
was very bad.  Only Ranma's superb physical condition and his innate
tenacity kept him alive long enough for them to get him into surgery.  He
has made it past the first hurdle, but that is all they can say."

Akane was crestfallen. "What does that mean?"

"Akane," said Dr. Tofu gently, "I'm sorry.  They just don't know.  He could
wake up tomorrow, he could wake up in a month, or he might never wake up at
all.  There is just no way to tell."

"I see," said Akane quietly.

Dr. Tofu continued, "They will be moving Ranma to a private room in the
Post Op later this morning.  He'll be allowed visitors in a couple of days.
At this point, it is as much a matter of time as anything else."

***  ###  ***

When the orderlies wheeled Ranma into his room in the hospital, Kuonji
Ukyou was there waiting for them.  At first, the nurse in charge seemed
reluctant to allow her presence, but she explained patiently that she was
Ran-chan's iinazuke and that there was no force they could muster that
could keep her away from his side.  Between her persuasive charm, her
bandoleer of rather sharp throwing spatulas, and the obvious pain in her
eyes, she convinced the nurse that it would be better if she were allowed
to stay.

Once she was convinced that Ukyou's driving interest was in the patient's
swift recovery, the Head Nurse of the Post Op Ward did everything she could
to help make Ukyou more comfortable.  She even went so far as to have a
couple of well padded chairs placed in the room, and a small futon in the
closet, so Ukyou would have a place to catch a nap when she needed it.  She
commented several times on how fortunate the patient was to have such a
devoted iinazuke.  Ukyou's only response to that remark was to nod her
thanks and smile a little sadly.

Before long, Ranma and all of his support monitors were installed in the
room, and a kind orderly had taken the time to explain to Ukyou what each
instrument did, and what to watch out for, so she could call the doctors,
if needed.  The array of equipment was impressive, and reminded Ukyou of
all of the blinking lights and instruments from the sickbay aboard the
starship from that American SF show that had such a following.  She wished
that they really did have that level of medical technology.

Ukyou pulled one of the chairs closer to Ran-chan's bed, and eased into it.
It was going to be a long wait.  Fortunately, she had *lots* of books.

***  ###  ***

Two days later, Genma was downstairs talking to the Doctors.  They had
little more to tell him than Dr. Tofu had, which, all in all, was not much.

"Rest assured, Mr. Saotome," the Doctor was saying, "Ranma is in the best
of hands.  This is one of the most advanced facilities in the world today,
and the staff is all first rate."

"You said 'one of the most advanced'," Genma said.  "Is there a better
place for Ranma to be?"

"Mr. Saotome, the only facility more advanced than this one is in Graviton
City, and they can do nothing for this type on injury that we cannot.  Your
son is receiving the very best of care."

Genma nodded.  "Arigatou, sensei.  Tell me, how is my son doing?  When will
he wake up?"

The doctor looked uncomfortable.  "Saotome-san...  Genma... your son is one
of the finest physical specimens that I have ever seen.  He has made it
through the surgery, and that is a good sign - it was no small feat.  But
the bottom line is that all we can do now is wait, and pray.  It is up to
Ranma.  We've repaired the physical damage.  If he has the strength; if he
has the will, then he will probably live.  If he does not, then no force on
Earth can save him."

Genma nodded his thanks again, and walked over to where Soun was sitting
and sobbing.  He sat down next to his longtime friend.

"Saotome-kun, what are we going to do?" Soun wailed.  "If Ranma dies, who
will carry on our legacy?  Who will care for Akane?"

Genma shook his head.  "I don't know, Tendou-kun.  I don't know."

"And," continued Soun, "Who will tell Nodoka-san?"

While Genma and her father renewed their prayers for Ranma's recovery,
Akane approached the doctor.

"Sensei," she asked, "When can I see Ranma?"

The doctor looked at Akane and smiled.  "I suppose you can see him just
about any time.  Just knock on the door to his room, and his iinazuke will
let you in."

Whatever reaction the doctor had expected from Akane, the explosion he got
was *not* it.  "Iinazuke?" she shrieked.  "WHAT are you *talking* about?
I'M his iinazuke!"

"You are?  But I thought that...  Miss Kuonji said...  She's been with him
for the last two days.  She's never left his side."

Akane's shout had brought Genma running.  The badly flustered doctor turned
to him for some measure of sanity.  Big mistake.  "Mr. Saotome," he asked,
"can you explain this?"

"Uncle Saotome," Akane began, "Tell him!  Tell him that Ranma is MY
iinazuke!  Not Ukyou's!"

Genma looked from the doctor to Akane and back again.  "Well, it's like
this..." he started.

The doctor held up his hand.  "Please," he said, "Just tell me which of
these young ladies is iinazuke to my patient."

Genma looked uncomfortable.  "Well, actually..." he cringed at Akane's
expression, "actually, both of them are." he finished with a sigh.

The doctor was incredulous.  "Are you telling me that Ranma has TWO iinazuke?"

"Of course not!" said Genma.  "That would be silly."

"It would." agreed the doctor, waiting.

"Ahh... umm... actually...  he has three," said Genma, staring at the floor
once more.

"Three!?!  Mr. Saotome, tell me.  Had Ranma's behaviour prior to the
accident been in any way... unusual?"

The question caught Genma off guard.  "I don't think so; why do you ask?"

The doctor glanced at Akane, who had been following the exchange with
interest, and a worried expression.  "Mr. Saotome, there is someone that I
would like for you to talk to."  He turned to Akane.  "You may go up to
Ranma's room, if you wish.  Just remember, he needs the support of all the
people who love him."

"Hai, sensei.  Arigatou." said Akane.  She watched as the doctor led a
confused looking Genma off toward the office wing.

***  ###  ***

Tendou Akane hesitated outside the door to Ranma's room.  Ukyou was in
there, and it made Akane mad.  What gave her the right to have been with
him while the rest of them had to wait for two days?  They had just let her
in because she had claimed to be his iinazuke.  <It should have been *me*
they let in,> she thought angrily.  Then another thought struck her.  <It
*could* have been me.  All I had to do was what she did.  Why didn't I?
What was I waiting for?>  She shook her head and sighed.

Akane entered the room as quietly as she could.  Ranma lay in his bed,
tubes and wires running from his battered body to the complex of medical
equipment humming efficiently behind it.  Kuonji Ukyou was curled up in a
chair with a copy of "Tsuki Aijin Kibishii Desu."  She had been reading it
to Ranma.  She looked up as Akane closed the door behind her.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as the two girls looked at
each other.  Finally, Akane's gaze dropped to the floor.  "How is he
doing?" she managed to ask.

"His condition hasn't changed since he was brought in," replied Ukyou.

Akane flinched at that remark, then she let her temper get the better of
her.  "Speaking of that, just what are you doing in here, anyway?

Ukyou looked at Akane coldly.  "I'm Ran-chan's iinazuke," she said simply.
"It is my duty, and my right to be here."

Akane bristled.  "I'M his iinazuke," she spat.  "Not you."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow.  "Really?  This is the first time I've heard *you*
make that claim.  Do you love him then?"

"You know perfectly well that Ranma's dad and mine had..."

"I don't give a *damn* about that," Ukyou hissed.  "I'm the one who loves
him.  YOU... *you* are the one who told him to go off and die.  Are you
happy now?  Are you?!"

Akane felt as if she had just been slammed in the gut.  The fragile control
she held over her emotions was shattered, and she fell to her knees with a
sob.

Ukyou watched Akane, and immediately regretted her words.  She dropped her
book and went to kneel by Akane's side.

"Gomen nasai, Akane-san," she said softly.  "I shouldn't have said those
things.  Please, come over here and sit down."  She led Akane gently over
towards the other chair, and eased her down into it.

She reached out to comfort the sobbing girl.  <I should hate you> she
thought to herself.  <For what you do to Ran-chan;  for what you do to
*me*>  Ukyou smiled sadly.  <But I can't.  I just can't bring myself to
hate someone that Ran-chan loves.>

Ukyou procured a cup, and poured some hot tea from a thermos bottle.  She
passed the cup to Akane, who took it gratefully.  Akane took a sip and let
the tea chase the chill from her body.  She looked at Ukyou from tear
swollen eyes.  "How..." she faltered as another sob threatened to overwhelm
her.  She fought for control.  "Who... who told you that I said that?"

"Ran-chan did, of course.  We talk all the time.  There are very few
secrets between us."

"It's true, you know.  I *did* say that, but... he... you have to know
that... I never meant it like this!"

Ukyou's expression softened.  "I know," she said.  "And Ranma does too."

Akane sighed. "I wish he would talk to *me* more."

"Funny," said Ukyou, as she poured herself a cup of tea, "He was saying the
same thing about you just the other day."

***  ###  ***

Ranma-chan came to in a blinding flash of pain.  Every part of her body
hurt, and her chest felt like it was on fire.  She shook her head to get
rid of the haze and immediately wished she hadn't.

<Ouch> she thought to herself.  <Did anyone get the number of that truck?>

(As it happens, someone *did*, but Ranma's question at this point was of a
more rhetorical nature.)

"Where am I?" she asked as the world around her slowly started to come into
focus.  As she looked around, the short answer appeared to be "in deep
trouble."

Ranma-chan was sitting on a ledge that jutted between three and five meters
out from a sheer cliff.  The cliff face itself was fairly smooth, with
occasional breaks or protrusions but little other surface detail.  She
looked up.  The ledge she was on seemed to be around a hundred meters from
the top of the cliff.  On the downside was a drop that appeared bottomless
- it had to be well over a thousand meters; it may have been ten times
that.  In either direction was the occasional line that might, or might
not, be another ledge.  Experimentally, she tossed a stone over the edge,
and watched as it fell.  It vanished into the distance far below.  She
never did hear it strike bottom.

"This is cute," Ranma-chan said to herself.  "I wonder how I got here?
Come to that, I wonder where *here* is."  She looked down at herself.  "And
when did I get wet?"

Ranma-chan slid painfully across the ledge until her back was against the
cliff face.  It hurt like hell, but nothing seemed to be broken.  She
turned her attention once more to the landscape.  There was plenty of
light, but she could not see the sun.  The sky was a peculiar shade of dark
blue, and there were no stars to be seen.  Occasional flashes of colour
rippled through the sky in the distance, like some hentai aurora.  Below
was just inky blackness.  She couldn't even make out the horizon with any
degree of reliability.

<Okay.  I don't know where I am, but I can't stay here.  There's no food,
or water.  Not even cold water,> she thought glumly.  <Better get moving,
then.>

Ranma-chan got slowly and painfully to her feet.  She peered along the
ledge to either side, but could see nothing.  Picking a direction at
random, she started walking, hugging the cliff face.  Before long, she came
to the end of the line - the ledge disappeared into the rock face once
more, leaving just the kilometer-plus drop.

"Well, *that* won't work," she muttered.  She turned and went back the way
she had come.

***  ###  ***

It was late that night when Akane got back to the Dojo.  She really felt
guilty for coming home at all; Ukyou was still with Ranma, and she felt
that she should have been there too.  However, she had not gone to the
Medical Centre with a long stay in mind, so if nothing else, she would have
had to come home for clothes and things.  She planned to go back the next
morning with a view toward staying for days at a time.

Akane wished that she could be more like Ukyou.  She envied Ukyou her
confidence.  Ukyou was not afraid to let a person know how she really felt.
Hell, she just envied Ukyou her certainty about her feelings towards
Ranma.  If only she could be as sure how she felt.  One way or another,
anything would be better than the confusion that had ruled her life since
Ranma's arrival.  <Anything but this,> she corrected herself.

Despite the lateness of the hour, Akane did not feel like going to sleep.
She was still keyed up from the events of the afternoon, and the emotional
roller coaster ride she had been on for the past few hours.  Instead of her
pajamas, she changed her clothes for her gi and headed for the dojo to
partake of her favourite form of relaxation - reducing perfectly usable
building materials to piles of rubble.

Upon entering the training hall, however, Akane found that she was not
alone.  Saotome Genma was sitting quietly against one wall, apparently lost
in meditation.  Akane, not wishing to disturb him, began to back out of the
hall as quietly as possible.  Before she could leave, Genma spoke.

"Please, Akane.  Do not leave."

Akane froze in her tracks.  "Gomen nasai, Mr. Saotome.  I didn't wish to
intrude..."

"You are not intruding, Akane.  Please, come in.  I would like to talk to
you, if you don't mind."

Akane walked in and sat down next to Ranma's father.  There was a long
moment of silence which Genma finally broke.

"Akane, please tell me.  Had you noticed anything unusual in Ranma's
behaviour prior to the accident?"

"Unusual?" Akane asked.  "I'm not really sure..."

"Please.  Think hard."

Akane wasn't sure what to think.  "Nothing really unusual, no,  unless you
count a whole week with no real fights.  But then, I hardly saw him during
that week, so I don't suppose that counts.  Why are you asking?"

Genma sighed heavily.  He hated to add to Akane's misery, but for once in
his life, he decided that honesty was the best approach.  "The doctors are
concerned - if the accident report was accurate, then Ranma should have
been able to avoid it.  He didn't."

"What are you trying to say, Mr. Saotome?"

"The woman who was driving the truck said that Ranma was looking right at
her, and he made no effort to avoid being struck.  She does not think that
Ranma *wanted* to get out of the way.  The doctors are worried that if that
is true, then Ranma may not have the will to come out of his coma.  If that
is the case, then Ranma will die."

Akane was shocked.  "You mean... you mean that they think Ranma *wanted* to
die?  That he...  NO!  I can't believe that Ranma would want to... I can't
accept that!  It's not true!"

Genma looked stricken.  "I only pray that you are right, Akane-chan.  I
only pray that you are right."

***  ###  ***

Ranma-chan sat down, and tried to come up with a plan of action.  The other
direction had been no more help than the first.  Instead of petering out
this time, the ledge had ended abruptly, again leaving nothing but a drop
of more than a klick.

Furthermore, she had started to notice a number of things about the
environment that just didn't add up.  For example, there was no wind.  On a
ledge like this there ought to have been one hellaceous crosswind - at
least there had been in every movie she had ever seen.  Here, there wasn't
even a breeze.  In fact, aside from her own voice and footsteps, there was
no sound at all.  The stillness was eerie.  Ranma-chan shuddered.  Where
*was* she?  This looked like no place on Earth.

<Maybe I'm not *on* Earth> she thought.  She discarded that idea in short
order.  It wasn't that she had trouble with the idea of alien abductions,
or space travel (her favourite manga were full of such things), it was just
that her surroundings were more surreal than real.  Yes, that was it.
Nothing around her seemed to be real.

"Computer," she said.  "Exit."  Nothing happened.  "Computer... end
program."  Still nothing.  Ranma-chan shrugged.  It had been worth a try.

She looked down again.  The drop looked real enough; real enough that she
felt disinclined to test it.  She had the definite impression that Down was
a Bad Thing.

<Right.  If it's not real, then it's a dream.  But if it's a dream, then
how come I can't wake up?  More of a nightmare, surely.>

Another thought drifted across her mind.  <Maybe I'm dead.>  Again the idea
was discarded after brief consideration.  <If I were dead,> she thought,
<then I wouldn't be nowhere, I'd be somewhere, or I wouldn't be at all.>
She was by no means absolutely sure of her reasoning, but it felt right.
She didn't feel dead.  <Besides... I hurt too much to be dead.>

Having resolved that to her satisfaction, she was still left with the
mystery of where she was, and how she was going to go about not being there
anymore.  She couldn't go to either side, and Down was a Bad Thing.  That
left Up.  She looked toward the top of the cliff and swallowed hard.
<oboy> she thought.  She sighed and started looking for handholds.

***  ###  ***

Akane sat on her bed, her knees drawn up under her chin, thinking.  The
very idea of Ranma's wanting to die was ridiculous.  Wasn't it?  She simply
couldn't imagine it.

But Ranma's ability to sense and avoid danger was almost legendary.  Surely
if he could avoid all the sneak attacks, he could have avoided something
like a delivery truck.  Was it true?  Had Ranma really wanted to get hit?

Ranma *had* been acting a little strangely lately...  He had been unusually
quiet - oddly distracted.  In retrospect, it seemed like he had been going
out of his way not to say anything mean to her.  In fact, it was like he
had been trying to avoid saying anything at all to her.  Whenever a fight
had appeared imminent, *Ranma* had actually paused, in mid-insult, and just
walked away.  At the time, it had infuriated her.  Now, it terrified her.

Not only that, he had been avoiding fights with everyone else, too.  When a
fight could not be avoided, he ended it uncommonly quickly - as if he had
no interest in what was going on.  It was as if he were a million miles
away, his body fighting on remote control.

All in all, it was behaviour that was certainly unlike what she had come to
expect from the Ranma she knew, and in light of Mr. Saotome's questions, it
was starting to scare her.  She got a cold feeling in the pit of her
stomach every time she thought about it.  She remembered enough from her
psychology class at school to know that sudden changes in behaviour could
mean trouble, but she still had a hard time with the concept of Ranma
taking his own life.  <Of course,> she thought, <it may not have been so
much taking his own, as not saving it.  That could be a significant
difference.>

He had been that way ever since their last fight.  Ever since the afternoon
that she had shouted for what must have been the ten thousandth time that
he ought to just go off and die.  <Oh, my God,> she thought miserably.  <It
really *is* my fault...>  Once more, Akane cried herself to sleep.

***  ###  ***

Ranma-chan was about twenty meters above the ledge where she had wakened.
Twice already she had made this climb, only to have one of her handholds
give way and send her crashing back down onto the ledge from which she had
come.  The second time, she had almost kept going.

Ranma-chan paused to catch her breath as she studied the cliff face.
Another five meters or so above her was a line that she was pretty sure
meant another ledge.  Once she got there, she could rest a bit before the
next leg of her climb.  But it was not going to be easy.  Real or not, in
this place the laws of physics still seemed to apply.  Her bruised
posterior was ample evidence of that.  The damned ledge was *hard*.

***  ###  ***

Ukyou had spent a restless night after Akane left.  She knew that deep
down, Akane cared for Ranma, and vice versa.  She could appreciate the
irony of a relationship where two people cared about each other but would
admit it to no one, least of all themselves.  It made her so mad sometimes
to see the way that Akane treated Ran-chan.  Why couldn't she just be a
little more patient with him?

She was under no illusions about Ranma - she knew that he made it hard on
Akane.  She knew that he could be stubborn beyond belief.  She knew that he
could be thoughtless, even cruel when he was angry.  After all, she *had*
known him longer that just about anyone else; and certainly longer than
either of his other two iinazuke.

But she also knew him for what he was - a loving person who valued his
friends, and would do anything to help them, anything to protect them.  She
knew how it tore at him when he knew that he had said something to hurt
Akane, or Shampoo, or her, and how he struggled to swallow his pride and
apologize; a struggle he all too often lost.

She had seen the hurt in his eyes after a fight with Akane, and she knew
how deep that hurt could go, though Ranma would sooner die <ouch> than
admit it.  She just loved him all the more for it.  Ever since she and
Ranma had been little, his wife was what she had most wanted to be.

Ukyou smiled tenderly at Ranma, and thought back to happier, simpler times,
when she and Ranma had been small children, and Ranma had come every day
for the special okonomiyaki that she would always prepare for him.  She
basked briefly in the warmth of the memory.

Of course, those times had not stayed happy.  Her father had known how she
felt about Ranma, and had taken steps to see that her wish was granted.
She remembered the day that her father had offered his yattai as bridegift
for the marriage.  She remembered how happy she had been when her father
had told her that Mr. Saotome had accepted his offer.  It seemed as if all
her dreams were to come true after all.

She remembered too, the crushing agony of the day that she awoke to find
Mr. Saotome and Ranma leaving with her father's yattai, but without her.
She had felt so betrayed that she had resolved never to love another
person, and for years, she had not.  She had even given up on being a girl.
Instead, she had honed her martial arts skills in the hope that one day,
she might have her revenge on those who had betrayed and abandoned her.

Finally, after ten years, she had tracked them down - Tracked them down
only to find that Ranma had had no part in abandoning her - that Ranma had
never been told that she was to have been his wife - that Ranma had never
even known that she was a girl, and that his only memories of her were
memories of his best friend, whom he had been so sad to leave.

She chuckled when she thought about that day - She had been so sure that
Ranma had thrown her away, just as his father had.  She had seen Ranma's
horrified reactions to his father's confession, and at first, she had
thought it was an act.  She would have her revenge.  She had challenged him
to a duel, a duel that she probably would have lost, had it come to that.
When the fight had begun, there were a couple of times she was sure she was
going to win, but Ranma was just too slippery.

To make matters more confusing, he hadn't seemed to be able to take her
challenge seriously.  It had puzzled her at the time - how could he act as
though they were still friends?  It had hit her then, that he had never
stopped caring for her.  And when he had called her cute, the hard lump in
her heart had melted, and she knew that she still loved him, now more than
ever.

She remembered his shock when her shirt had been ripped during the fight,
and he had realized that she was a girl.  She remembered being puzzled at
his reaction - why had he dumped hot water on her?  The answer to *that*
question had come later, along with stories of how he had been engaged to
Akane, and how he had gotten mixed up with the princess of the Joketsuzoku
Amazons.  Ran-chan had been right, his life *had* gotten awfully
complicated.

But the things that had made Ranma the person she had loved had only grown
stronger over the years.  He had his flaws, to be sure, but they were minor
by comparison.  And now it looked like she might lose him again.  But this
time, she would fight.  She was not going to let Ranma be taken from her
easily.

When sleep finally came, Ukyou's dreams were filled with images of
Ran-chan, alive and well.  Right now that dream was more important to her
than any other.

***  ###  ***