A Lesson In Love
Chapter XIII: Forgiveness
By Marisa Price
(Copyright to Marisa Price, 1996, All Rights Reserved)
mdp102@york.ac.uk

	Akane wasn't moving. Ranma cried, "Akane..." and
reached toward her hesitantly, as if afraid to touch her.
Then, suddenly, Ranma was desperately shaking her; and 
he was shouting, "Are you OK, Akane? Wake UP, Akane!"
	Ukyou had dropped to her knees, about two feet
away from where Akane lay. She feared the worst.
	Finally, Ryouga punched him away, saying sharply,
"Don't shake her like that! You could hurt her even more!"
	Ryouga was surprised at the feeling of calm he 
suddenly possessed amidst this chaos. But, as the others
could not deal with the situation, it seemed some force
had decided to give him the will and the strength to do
what neither the sobbing Ukyou nor Ranma appeared able
to do.
	Ryouga approached her and then reached down to
slowly turn Akane over. He flinched slightly as he did so,
seeing the blood; there was a deep cut along her forehead,
which had produced most of it. There were two others: one
on the front of her left shoulder and the other along her
left leg. The head wound was serious, the other two were
relatively shallow, and the yellow gi had soaked up most
of the blood from the minor cuts. Ryouga felt sick, and
horrified, but he still managed to reach out and gently
take her wrist to check for a pulse...
	He gratefully felt the blood moving through her
veins. Ryouga sighed in relief, and realized that her
chest was also gently rising with her breathing.
	He turned to Ranma, his voice confident, and said,
"She's gonna be all right, Ranma, I think she's just 
knocked out."
	Ranma's relief was palatable, his shoulders 
relaxed a bit, the desperate fear left his eyes.
	Ryouga continued, "She's gonna need stitches 
though, I think. We should get her to a hospital."
	Ranma stared at him for a second, and then
nodded, and suggested that they put some temporary
bandages on her for the moment. 
	Ukyou was momentarily ignored, quietly staring
at Akane, her face agonized.
	Ranma ran to go call an ambulance as Ryouga 
took a few of his bandannas off and tied them around the
cuts on Akane's shoulder and leg, trying to slow the 
bleeding. He considered the deep gash in her forehead
for a few moments before he finally nodded to himself 
and then folded two other bandannas and pressed them 
against her forehead. He then wrapped another two around
those and fastened it on the side of her head to hold 
the makeshift bandage down.
	Ranma re-entered the room as Ryouga finished,
and Ryouga said, "OK. I did the best I could."
	Ranma nodded and said, "The ambulance is on
its way." 
	Ranma kneeled and took Akane's hand between his,
and his thoughts briefly flickered with the image of how
soft and delicate she really was, although she always
tried to be so tough.
	Ranma gently stroked her hair and mumbled, "Akane...
Shit, Akane. You better be OK..."
	After reassuring himself that Akane was temporarily
safe, Ranma finally stood and turned to Ukyou. 
	She sat on her knees, looking disheveled with her
hair mussed and slipping out of its white bow. Her face was
pale, her eyes wide and damp and, as she looked at Ranma,
they filled with fear. She had hurt Akane; she knew Ranma
wasn't going to just forgive her.
	As she saw Ranma turn toward her, she started to
shake uncontrollably and began to move away from him, almost
cowering. She finally put her hands over her eyes and 
crumpled to the ground in a heap, sobs racking her body.
	She repeated over and over, "I'm sorry Ranchan, I'm
sorry!!" 
	Ranma just stared at Ukyou, fury filling his eyes.
	He said, desperately, "Why? WHY?? How COULD YOU!"
	Ranma started to advance on her, his fists clenched. 
	Ryouga stood quickly and stepped in front of Ranma
to stop him. He placed his hands out to block Ranma, palms
braced; he did not dare to touch his furious friend, but 
needed to present Ranma with a barrier.
	Ranma stiffened, ready to push Ryouga out of his
way, when he heard him saying, quietly:
	"Ranma. This is no time for revenge..."
	Ranma began to growl out a reply, and then noticed
that Ryouga was no longer looking at him; he had paused to
stare at the hysterical Ukyou. Against his will Ranma's
eyes followed Ryouga's gaze. Strong Ukyou, his best and 
oldest friend, lay distraught. Somehow, despite the fact
that he wanted to immediately accuse her, to blame her,
to hate her for what she had done, there became a clear 
spot in the red haze that surrounded him and he realized
that something didn't add up.
	The sound of sirens became audible and it was
obvious that they were drawing nearer to the restaurant.
	Ryouga noticed that Ranma's eyes had lost their
beserker glow, and said cautiously, "I think we should
wait before jumping to conclusions."
	Ranma managed to control his anger as Ryouga's
words, emphasized by Ukyou's obvious grief, sunk in. He
turned away from Ukyou, refusing to look at her and risk
doing something that he might later regret.
	The sirens were loud now, two houses down.
	Ranma set the thought of Ukyou aside for the 
moment, and turned back to Akane.
	The sirens silenced, and then there was a 
pounding at the door, and Ryouga jumped up to let the
EMT staff in. 
	The medics pulled Akane onto a stretcher, and
began to ask Ranma questions about what the situation
was, when this had occurred, what was Akane's medical
insurance number. Then they were carrying her out the
door and putting her in the ambulance, and Ranma 
followed. 
	Ranma turned toward the doorway through which
he had stepped, full of laughter, not but ten minutes
before. Now, not looking again at either Ukyou or 
Ryouga, he stepped outside, heavy hearted, and then
set off with his fiancee for the hospital.

*****
	Ukyou had curled herself into a ball, her arms
wrapped tightly about her body. Ryouga hesitated, 
wondering if he should approach her. He paused in his 
indecision.
	The silence, broken only by Ukyou's sobs, became
too heavy for Ryouga to bear. He finally said, softly,
"Ukyou... what happened?"
	Ukyou looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and
managed to say, "I... I... I DON'T KNOW!!!" This was 
followed by another storm of tears, and Ryouga patiently 
waited for them to pass.
	But they didn't pass.
	He finally decided that he should get her off of
the floor and out of this room where she kept remembering
what had just occurred. He strode over to her and gently
touched her shoulder. She was cold to the touch, and her
skin was very pale. She wasn't even crying much anymore, 
just staring off at some distant point in the room. 
	She was in shock.
	Ryouga felt his heart twist.
	He swept her up into his arms, and she seemed to
realize that someone held her. She turned to his warmness
and clung to him, her arms around his neck, and she was 
suddenly crying tears against his shirt. He carried her
up to her room, and lay her gently down on her bed. She 
curled up tightly, clutching her pillow to her. Ryouga 
got up and went off to get a bowl of warm water, a cloth,
and some tissue.
	After making several wrong turns, but thankfully
not ending up out of the house, he finally returned.
	She still hadn't moved.
	He gently cleaned her face and then dried it with
a soft towel. He stood again and went to rummage around 
in the linen-closet for a few minutes, before he finally
returned to Ukyou's side and then covered her up with two
additional blankets.
	Ryouga looked down at her, confused. He needed to
believe that the... -situation- he had just witnessed was
not her fault. But... that would mean that somehow Akane
had been responsible, and his heart wouldn't let him
believe that either.
	Akane had almost done a Shishi-Hokodan. He had felt
the dark, heavy energy collecting as he entered the room--
as attuned as he was to it. But... why? It was not really
a question of skill. Akane had witnessed both versions of 
the attack, and, feasibly, she might have been able to 
unconsciously pick up on the style and technique. How 
powerful the attack might have truly been was another 
question; and the answer was... probably not very strong.
	The ball of ki she had held in her hands was only
about a fourth of the strength of his or Ranma's attacks,
he had sensed that (with his experience) as he saw what 
she had been about to do. But... the only problem was...
WHAT could have EVER depressed Akane enough to make her 
summon up the energy for such an attack?
	Akane angered easily, but she forgave just as
quickly. She was a basically happy person... even happier
since she and Ranma had finally reached an understanding.
What could have POSSIBLY caused this to happen?
	It MUST have had to do with Ranma. And yet...
	Ryouga stared at the figure on the bed.
	...Ukyou?
	Ryouga shook his head fiercely. No. There was
nothing between Ranma and Ukyou anymore. She was too proud
to ever let him hurt her again, and Ranma was too in love 
with Akane. He had even bought Akane an engagement ring, or
so he had said the previous night. 
	Was that it? Was Ukyou jealous of Akane's ring, and
she had attacked Akane by saying something from Ranma's past
that would hurt her, depress her? He couldn't imagine what
that would be.
	Ukyou's eyes were swollen and faintly purplish and
bruised from her crying, still closed, and her breathing
was now deep; she had fallen asleep. 
	He hesitantly reached down to brush a stray lock of
hair away from her eyes, and then ran his finger lightly 
down her soft cheek.
	Ryouga started as her eyes opened, and she looked 
up at him. He pulled his hand slightly to the left and made
a big show of tucking the blankets around her.
	Ukyou stared at him, and then one of her hands
reached out from under the blanket to take his. She held
his warm palm firmly in her grasp, and said, fiercely, 
"Please don't leave me alone... Please, Ryouga...."
	Ryouga could see that she was still in shock, and
that the tears were about to begin again. He knew now was 
not the time to bring up what had happened... either what 
had happened with Akane, or the situation between the two 
of them. But...
	Ryouga reached out to hug her to him, and her 
arms went around his shoulders, holding him tightly. 
Everything was going to work out, somehow.
	He said, softly, "I won't leave you alone. Not 
like last time. I... promise... I'm sorry..." 
	And she began to cry again.

******

	Ranma sat on the chair in the waiting room of the
hospital. The Doctor had told him quite bluntly that if
he was too distraught to remain with Akane as she received
her stitches (his grunts and moans at every stitch were 
driving the doctor insane), then he needed to wait in the
lobby.
	Akane had recovered long enough to say something
like, "Uughnh?" Before the pain-killer injection she had
been given kicked in, and she was back out cold. She
had not noticed Ranma was there, but Ranma had felt a bit
better knowing that she HAD woken up and he decided that
she was on the road to recovery. This, combined with
several reassurances from the doctor, allowed Ranma to
finally get up and leave Akane to his ministrations.
	Ranma sat for awhile trying to avoid any thought
about what had happened, before he finally realized he
should probably call the Tendo household. The phone rang,
and Kasumi picked it up. Ranma shakily told a bewildered
Kasumi that Akane had been in an "accident" and that she
was at the hospital.
	Kasumi said, upset, "Oh Ranma! Is she all right? Are
YOU all right? The hospital?? Oh no!"
	"Yeah, you should probably come right over, she
has a big cut on her forehead and a couple others. The
doctor's giving her stitches," Ranma said disconsolately.
	Kasumi interrupted with, "A head wound? Oh my!
Stitches! Oh Ranma! I will DEFINITELY..." Someone
interrupted in the background at the Tendo household.
	Kasumi said to the person, "What?" And after a few
seconds of fuzzy mumbling, Ranma heard Kasumi say loudly,
"Goodness! Father, it's all right! Akane just got in a
little accident. No, she's NOT dead Father! Stop Crying,
Father!"
	Ranma heard more mumbling, and then Kasumi got back
on the line and said, "Oh, Ranma! I am SO sorry. I will be
right there with Nabiki. Please tell Akane that we love her
and that we are so worried!"
	Kasumi prattled on for a few more minutes before
she finally put Nabiki on the line. Nabiki said, softly,
"Is she all right?"
	Ranma muttered, "Yeah."
	Nabiki sighed in relief and then said, a bit more
energetically, "We'll be there as soon as possible!"
	The phone at the Tendo household clattered down.
Typical Nabiki. She was so unemotional.
	Ranma sighed and then slowly hung up and then sat
down again in one of the nearby chairs.
	He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair,
trying to keep his mind occupied. He picked up a magazine
and saw it was about "Retirement: Life after 50!" and
groaned. He couldn't exactly start doing his kata in the
middle of an Emergency Room lobby; patients might come in.
What to do? What to do?
	Ranma finally gave up and leaned back against the
chair, his head resting on the wall. He reached up and
massaged his temples and closed his eyes, the strain of the
past hour starting to affect him.
	What had happened?
	The thought came unbidden; in fact, Ranma had been
trying with all his might to suppress it. But the question
was there in the back of his mind.
	He reasoned, as Ryouga had, that Akane had been
about to do a Shishi-Hokodan. This amazed him too; Akane
was not only untrained in it, but she also was not a
depressed person. Obviously, she had somehow picked up the
technique from observing Ryouga and himself, but he wasn't
quite sure what would be able to bring about that kind of
energy from Akane.
	It must have been something that Ukyou had done.
But... what?
	Ranma puzzled through every possibility, but
nothing seemed realistic to him. He knew that Ukyou had
several reasons to dislike Akane, and it wasn't hard to
imagine that she would attack Akane. But... Ranma knew that
Ukyou was doing her best to put aside the past. Why would
that have suddenly changed? He also couldn't believe that
she would even be able to come up with something that would
hurt Akane to the extent that she could do a Shishi-Hokodan.
	Then Ranma realized something: Akane had been
dressed in her gi. Why would she have been dressed that
way, outside of the dojo... unless she had come to Ucchan's
Okonomiyaki knowing that she was going to be in a fight?
	"Mr. Saotome!!" a voice said loudly, interrupting
his musings. Ranma looked up and saw the doctor standing
over him, with a small frown on his face. Ranma jumped to
his feet and said, horrified, "Is she OK?! You look worried,
Doc!"
	The doctor nodded and said, "She's sleeping. I was
worrying about YOU! I said your name about ten times before
you finally answered."
	Ranma said, apologetically, "I'm sorry.. I was
thinking about something. Tell me, Doc, is she gonna be
OK?"
	"The stitches are done, and all three wounds should
heal with a minimum of scaring since they were all done
with some sort of blade, as sharp as a scalpel knife," the
doctor looked at Ranma, concerned, and finished, "Do you
want to tell me exactly what happened?"
	Ranma shook his head and finally said, "I dunno
what happened exactly. I wish I did. All I can tell you is
that the cuts were done by a friend of ours named Ukyou,
and that I THINK it was some sort of accident."
	The doctor sighed and adjusted his glasses before 
saying, "Hmm. Well, if this is a case that needs to be 
reported to the police, I would appreciate knowing it. 
Understood, Mr. Saotome?"
	Ranma nodded and then looked longingly toward the
door of the room where Akane lay sleeping. He turned to the
doctor, about to ask a question, when he read his thoughts
and said, "Go on in. Just try not to wake her. She needs
to sleep off the injection I gave her."
	Ranma went in and sat next to his fiancee, gently
stroking her hair. A clean white bandage now covered her
forehead, and she was dressed in a hospital gown. He could
see that the cut on her shoulder was also bandaged. He 
couldn't tell about her leg because it was covered by the
hospital blanket.
	An IV dripped fluid into her left arm, and she
looked wan and pale. Ranma sighed and sat back, waiting
for his fiancee to wake up, holding her right hand in
his.

*****
	
	A few hours after sunset, Ukyou finally woke up.
She felt extremely disoriented for a few minutes, and her
head felt like it had been through the washing machine a
few times. She was warm, EXTREMELY warm, as there were 
several blankets piled on top of her. She wondered, "What
the...?" When she noticed that, illuminated by the soft
moonlight from her open window, Ryouga sat a chair next
to her bed. His head was tucked against his chest, and
he was slumped down, asleep.
	She started to sit up, ready to yell at him for 
being in her house, when suddenly the memories flooded
back. She winced, as if she had been struck by a physical
pain, and lay back on the bed. She contemplated the dark
ceiling for a few minutes, thought about what had happened,
and then finally managed to sit up and wake Ryouga.
	Ryouga grumbled, "Not now, Mom..." And tried to
roll over, effectively dumping him out of the chair and 
onto the floor.
	Ukyou couldn't help it, despite her depression, and
giggled at him. Ryouga groaned, fully awake now, and 
picked himself up off the floor. Ukyou turned on the small
lamp that sat on her nightstand and looked at Ryouga. He
was rubbing his thigh, a slight grimace on his face. He
looked at her giggling, and said, "I suppose this means
that you are feeling better."
	The giggling stopped, and she sighed, and Ryouga
noticed that she was still pale and that there were huge
circles under her eyes. He also sighed, and then sat back
down in the chair.
	She said, quietly, "I'm not better. I guess I'm
just hysterical at this point. I've had a pretty horrible
day."
	Ryouga looked at her sympathetically, and asked,
"I'm just taking a wild guess, but did Akane come here
and attack YOU?"
	Ukyou stiffened, and then said, "I suppose you
want to hear what happened."
	"Well, the thought did cross my mind," he said as
casually as possible under the situation.
	Ukyou growled at him and said, "Watch it. You are
still on shaky ground with me."
	Ryouga shrugged at her and said, "Well, all I know
is that I came in and saw you half-kill Akane. I'd say
you are on shaky ground with me too."
	Ukyou flinched, and turned away from him to look
at the wall.
	Ryouga apologized, twice, and then reached out to
lightly touch her arm. She shrugged it off, but finally 
turned back to him.
	"Do you really think so little of me that you 
would honestly believe I could try to kill Akane?" she
spat.
	Ryouga sighed, and his shoulders fell. He looked
up at her after a moment and said, "Ukyou. I'm sorry. I 
shouldn't have said that, but you just really push me 
sometimes."
	"I'm sorry Ryouga. God, I can be such an idiot,"
she said, and shook for a moment, before she began to
cry again. Ryouga finally let her lean into his arms
and weep. She apologized over and over and then the
story tumbled out.
	She failed to notice that when she mentioned the
"letter" Akane had been talking about, that Ryouga froze.
	"...So, I was going to throw my spatulas at her to
pin her down, I never meant to hurt her!" She sniffled, "But
then you two came in and I couldn't stop her from turning to
look, any more than I could change the direction that the
spatulas were going..."
	Ukyou broke off as Ryouga pushed her away and stood.
He had put his face in his hands and he was saying, over and
over, "Oh NO, oh NO, oh NO..."
	Ukyou reached over and touched his arm, alarmed.
Ryouga looked up at her, his eyes wide with horror, and she
gasped out, "What? What's WRONG?!"
	Ryouga stood up and went to bang his fist against
the wall. Ukyou pushed the covers aside and ran over to
him, shivering in the cold air outside of her warm bed. She
pulled him away from the wall, and held him for a moment.
She said, sharply, "What? WHAT?! Tell me!"
	"It's my fault. It's all my own damn fault. As
ALWAYS. That letter she found... It wasn't a letter from
RANMA to you, it was a letter from ME to you!!"
	Ukyou pulled away from him in surprise and shouted,
"What?!"
	Ryouga nodded, walking to the window and staring
outside at the full moon. He finally continued, "You see,
Ranma came up with this idea that I could get you to forgive
me if I wrote you a letter apologizing for what had happened.
I was trying to tell you that you were more important to
me as a friend than Akane, and that I was so sorry for 
letting you down."
	Ukyou was frozen, and simply stared at Ryouga while
he spoke.
	"...You see, I never finished it. It takes me a 
really long time to write letters, and Ranma got bored. So
he got this bright idea and decided to drag me off to try
something else," Ryouga decided it wasn't prudent to tell
her about Shampoo at the moment.
	Ukyou finally asked, "It wasn't finished? So..."
	Ryouga nodded, "Yeah. So there wasn't a signature
at the end. And I left it in Ranma's room. If Akane found
it, she never would have known that Ranma hadn't written
it. And the gods only know how she might have interpreted
it."
	Suddenly Ukyou was at Ryouga's side. She awkwardly
put her arms around him and hugged him. He stiffened at
first at the contact, but finally let his arms come up and
hold her back.
	She whispered against his chest, "Ryouga. It's not
your fault. This was all one HUGE misunderstanding. God. I
just hope that she forgives you and Ranchan and I for it."
	Ryouga muttered, "Yeah. And I hope she is going to
be all right."
	Ukyou nodded. She finally said, so softly that he
almost didn't her hear, "And I hope Ranchan will forgive me..."
	He wondered if he had imagined it.
	She said, louder, "I...I'm glad that you were trying
to apologize with the letter, even if it turned out so 
horribly."
	She looked up at him and his eyes were full of 
hope. Ukyou smiled and said, blushing, "It gets a bit 
lonely around here. So... if you want to... you are welcome
to come back and live here..." 
	"Then I am forgiven?" he asked, hopefully.
	Ukyou nodded.
	Ryouga was exultant. He looked down at her, and,
despite the fact that she had been through so much today,
he thought that she looked beautiful. Her slight blush made
her cheeks glow, and her eyes were shining.
	He thought maybe he should kiss her, and then
wondered if that was even the right thing to do in this
situation. He then felt confused, and puzzled over the new
feelings that welled up inside him.
	He started to lean down, and she didn't move away.
	Then the phone started to ring.
	They immediately moved away from each other, almost
reflexively. Ryouga started to fumble for words, but Ukyou
saved him by saying, "I'll go get it."
	She sprinted from the room, leaving a bemused
Ryouga staring after her.
	He decided that perhaps this was a sign, and moved
out of the room, trying to follow her audible voice to
the room with the phone.
	He had just made it to the dining room, when she
was hanging the phone up.
	She said, "That was Nabiki. She said that Akane is
OK, and that she is awake. They're at Nerima Main. She said
that she had heard about the situation, and that we'd better
get down there."
	Ryouga nodded.
	Ukyou ran back to her room, saying back over her
shoulder to Ryouga, "I am going to go get cleaned up, I 
will be right back."
	Ryouga waited, noticing that the moment they had
just had in her room had passed, and things were seemingly
back to normal.
	He shrugged and looked about the familiar
restaurant, and decided that it was nice to be forgiven,
despite it all, and that he was happy to be back.

*****

*ONE HOUR AGO*

	Akane's eyelashes gently moved, and Ranma sat up
and leaned toward the bed expectantly.
	Her eyes finally opened, and she grimaced in pain.
She looked up and noticed Ranma staring at her, a worried
frown on his face. Her eyes were blank, and then she turned
her face to look the other direction.
	Ranma blinked, surprised, and queried, "A...Akane?"
	"What, are you here to gloat?" she asked darkly.
	Ranma was now shocked. He reached out to touch her
shoulder and she shrugged his hand away.
	He froze. He recognized this Akane, this was the 
girl he had known for the first year of their relationship.
She was again the angry girl who had pounced on him for
every thing that he had done wrong, mallet in hand.
	"What's wrong? What're you talking about?" he 
finally asked.
	Akane turned to look at him again and said, "I 
thought you would be with Ukyou; after all, she's the one
that you love."
	Ranma sat back in his chair, the breath knocked 
from his body as if she had physically punched him. He
asked, hoarsely, "What the hell are you TALKING about,
Akane?!"
	She rolled her head back to look at the ceiling,
desperately trying to maintain her coldness to stay the
tears that threatened to erupt from her eyes.
	"I read the 'project' that you were working on this
morning, the one that you were so desperate to hide from
me," she said in a monotone.
	"Project?" Ranma wondered aloud, having forgotten
the letter completely.
	She stiffened, and, trying to restrain herself,
said with gritted teeth, "You know, the letter. After 
reading that, it made sense to me why you were asking me
last night about 'how to chose between two girls that you
loved equally' and all that."
	"The letter??" Ranma asked, racking his brain. Then
he remembered. Ranma stood so quickly that his chair 
clattered to the ground. He stood up and went over to the
wall and braced himself against it, desperately trying to
control himself, taking deep, even breaths.
	Akane looked at him before saying, sarcastically,
"What? Remember now?"
	Ranma turned to Akane and looked at her, sadly,
before he said, "Akane no baka."
	He stormed towards her, and put his hands on the
bed, looking her in the eyes. He said, quietly, "If you
are talking about what I think you are talking about, then
you almost killed yourself over a letter to Ukyou from
RYOUGA."
	"Ryouga?" Akane said blankly, her eyes having 
widened, and then she said, "But...!"
	"But what?" Ranma asked, sitting back in his 
chair, dejectedly.
	He started to count on his fingers, "First off,"
he ticked off one of his fingers, "You should've trusted
me more than that. Second, you should've come to ask me
about it before you went and got all excited. And last,
how could you have even thought such a thing when I asked
you to marry me last night?!"
	Akane had begun to cry. She sobbed, "But you never
told me that Ryouga was back! How long has he been here?
How could I have known! All I knew was that you were being
all secretive this morning, and then all of a sudden I 
found this letter!"
	Ranma said, sadly, "You're right. I SHOULD have 
told you that Ryouga was back. But," he added, "I was 
trying to spare you from having to deal with him. And,
anyway, you still should have known that letter wasn't
from me! Was it signed 'Ranma' anywhere?!"
	Akane thought back, and then started to shake her
head back and forth, tears rolling off her cheeks.
	Ranma said grimly, "I didn't think so. Akane," he
stood again and looked down at her, saying sharply, "Shit.
What do I have to do to get you to trust me?! Get rid of 
every girl who has ever looked twice at me?"
	Akane closed her eyes and got out, "N..No..!"
	Ranma pulled away, crossing his arms on his chest.
	"Shampoo is gone by the way, back to China. That
should make you happy at least."
	She started and asked, "Gone..? Oh Ranma..." She
said, between sobs, "I...." sniffle "am..." gasp "SO" cry
"SORRY!!!!" Her tears began again.
	Ranma leaned down and picked her up gently, holding
her in his lap. He then took her hand and showed it to her,
saying, "Look Akane. I gave you this ring because you're
the most important person in the whole universe to me. I
love you so much that it hurts sometimes."
	She looked up at him tearfully, and said, "Ranma..."
	He shushed her, and placed his finger on her lips,
and then said, "Akane. You just have to learn to believe in
me. I always protect you, and I have never wanted anyone
else. Why can't you see that?"
	She leaned against him and his arms went around her
protectively. She said, quietly, "I'm so sorry Ranma. I 
can be such a jealous, suspicious, idiot. I guess I can't
figure out why you would want to spend the rest of your
life with someone like me."
	"Akane, I like you just the way you are. You're
perfect," he said, softly kissing the top of her head,
avoiding the bandages.
	"Ranma, I love you..."
	"I know. I love you too, you kawaikunee baka."
	She gave a wet giggle, sniffling.
	He lifted her chin so that her eyes looked up to
his, and said, "I forgive you for being an idiot today. And
I'm sorry about not telling you that Ryouga was around; it
coulda stopped a lot of people from being hurt."
	Akane sat up and said, "Oh god. Ukyou. Is she OK?"
	"I dunno," Ranma shrugged, "I had to worry about you
first. And I kinda thought that the whole thing was HER 
fault, so I was ready to hate her." Ranma realized that he
was immensely relived that this had all been a just a
misunderstanding, and that Ucchan hadn't betrayed him.
	Akane gasped, and then realized that Ranma could
not have known that SHE would go attack Ukyou.
	"Oh no," Akane said fearfully, "You didn't do 
anything to her did you? I think she was just going to pin
me down and then I, baka that I can be, let myself get
distracted and turned, making her aim off..."
	Ranma shook his head, and said, "No. Ryouga made
me think about it and then I brought you here. Ryouga is
over at her place right now."
	Ranma looked at her and then asked, "You know...
Did you know that you were about to do a Shishi-Hokodan 
when I burst through Ucchan's door?"
	"What?" Akane asked in surprise.
	Ranma nodded and said, looking at her a bit
differently, from a martial artist's standpoint, "Hey, Akane,
I think you may have been right all this time that you were
a martial artist."
	"Gee thanks," Akane said sarcastically, wincing as
she moved her shoulder the wrong way.
	Ranma stuck his tongue out at her and then said,
"You know, I think I am gonna start trying to train you to
do a few ki-based attacks once you get better.."
	"Really?" Akane asked, her eyes bright and hopeful.
	He smiled at her and gave her a gentle kiss.
	"Really."
	They just held each other for awhile, when Akane
finally said, "You know, we should probably call Ukyou and
Ryouga and let them know that I am going to be OK."
	The door opened, startling Ranma and Akane, and
Nabiki sauntered into the room. She smiled at the cuddled
couple, and then said, "I just called them. The doctor told
me there had been some sort of accident and that he knew
a girl named Ukyou was involved."
	She looked at her bandaged little sister and said,
"You OK, Sis?"
	Akane nodded.
	Nabiki walked over to her sister and gave her a
brief hug. She said, quietly, "There isn't anything I 
should know?"
	Akane shook her head and said, "No, Sis. It was all
just a HUGE misunderstanding..."
	Nabiki nodded and seemed placated by that, but
added, "OK. You let me know if the situation changes. I 
want my little sister to stay happy and healthy." Nabiki
eyed Ranma at this point, as if the whole situation was his
fault. 
	Kasumi came in after Nabiki, with flowers and 
blankets and a thermos of warm soup. She swept her little
sister in her arms and said, gently, "Oh Akane, I was so
worried about you!"
	The two sisters fidgeted over their sister for 
awhile, and finally Akane got sick of all the attention.
She said, "OK, OK! I love you guys too, but I'm gonna be
fine! I'm not a baby!"
	Nabiki smiled again and said, "Well, you could 
have fooled us. Jeesh Akane, you need to stay out of 
trouble," she waved the hospital bill in front of her 
and said, "It's expensive!"
	"Are you sure you're related to her?" Ranma asked,
bewildered.
	Akane giggled and then apologized to her sister.
	Kasmui tucked Akane in again and then said, 
"All right Akane, we'll head home and tell Father that
you are doing fine. Are you sure you'll be ok here 
tonight?"
	Akane nodded, and motioned to Ranma, "Ranma 
will stay with me."
	Ranma smiled at her and sqeezed her hand.
	The doctor came in, smiling, as Akane's sisters
finally left. Akane smiled back at the person who she
supposed had done her stitches, and Ranma nodded at
him and moved off of the hospital bed, letting Akane
lay back down so that the doctor could examine her.
	He checked all of her injuries, and then gave her
a gentle pat on the head. He said to her, "You look good,
Ms. Tendo. You are just going to need a lot of R&R for
the next week or so, and you should try to keep those 
bandages clean," he looked at her, serious all of a 
sudden, and added, "And stay out of accidents, OK?"
	Akane promised.
	"Well. That's all I can do. I think you should stay
here at the hospital overnight, as you have lost a lot of
blood, but you can go home tomorrow. The scarring should be
minimal. Just take care of yourself, got it?"
	Akane nodded again, and Ranma vowed to protect her.
	The doctor looked reassured, and started to walk
out of the room, reminding them to call a nurse if she 
needed anything.
	A little while later, a called from the doorway.
	"Um, hello?" he said.
	Akane and Ranma looked up simultaneously.
	Ryouga stood in the doorway, looking tired and a 
bit sad, and an equally weary and depressed Ukyou stood
behind him, barely visible over his should.
	Ryouga said, bowing formally, "If you can find it
in your heart to allow me, I would like to apologize to 
you."
	Akane respected his formality, and said, "You can
speak, Ryouga."
	Ryouga fumbled for words, but then managed, "Akane.
I kept secrets from you for a very long time, and I want to
apologize for that. I only did what I thought was right at
the time; now I realize that it was wrong. Firstly, I hope
that you can forgive me for that and that we might be able
to be friends again. Secondly, I ask you to please forgive
me for the incident today. I left a letter for Ukyou in
Ranma's room, and I am afraid that was what caused all the
trouble today. I was responsible for your misinterpretation."
	Akane smiled sweetly at Ryouga and said, "As to 
your first request, I forgave you for that already. It 
seems like such a long time ago anyway, and it was pretty
idiotic for me not to have figured it out in the first 
place. Let's just put that behind us, OK? Your second 
request is denied."
	Ryouga, who had begun to look much happier during
Akane's speech, was startled back into despair as he echoed
her words: "...D...Denied?"
	Akane nodded, her expression serious. Then she
sighed and said, "Denied because it wasn't your fault. -I-
was at fault because I didn't trust Ranma like I should
have. It was also Ranma's fault," here she slugged Ranma,
"Because if he had told me in the first place, this never
would have happened."
	Ranma glowered at her.
	Ryouga smiled at Akane, and bowed again, saying, 
"Thanks, Akane. It means the world to me..."
	Akane nodded, and gave him a reassuring smile. Then
she looked at Ukyou, lurking behind Ryouga.
	Akane said, softly, "Ukyou..."
 	Ukyou looked at Akane, and Akane saw that there
were tears in Ukyou's eyes.
	"Ukyou, I am so sorry for blaming you and attacking
you... you didn't deserve that..."
	Ukyou gasped out, "Akane, -I- am so sorry. I
wouldn't have hurt you on purpose for anything. I only
meant to pin your clothing down to stop you from blowing up
the restaurant... but you moved..."
	Akane said, sadly, "No, no, Ukyou... it wasn't your
fault... You spent the whole time trying to calm me down.
You had no choice. It was my fault, not yours..."
	Ukyou started forward into the room, towards Akane.
She finally kneeled down next to the bed and took Akane's
hand in hers, looking up at her and saying, "But... it is
my fault. If I hadn't been being such a pain in the ass
lately, you wouldn't have doubted that I have given up on
Ranchan. I have been such a jerk to you, just because I was
jealous of how happy you were.."
	Akane soothed her, "No, no, no. I would have acted
the same way. I haven't been very understanding about how
you felt either... I'm sorry too..."
	Ukyou pulled away from Akane and smiled at her, 
wiping a hand on her cheek to get rid of the wetness 
there. She said, "Akane, you know, if we had met in a 
different kind of situation, I actually think we would
have been really good friends..."
	"I think we still can be really good friends..."
Akane said gently.
	Ranma coughed, and said, "I think we should all 
just forgive each other and get on with life."
	Everyone looked at each other, and a feeling of
calm settled between the four.
	Ranma looked at Ryouga and Ukyou and asked, "So,
guys, I'm assuming you've gotten over your little fight and
are getting along again?"
	They looked at each other, and Ukyou blushed and
looked away. Finally, Ryouga gave a small smile, and nodded.
	Ranma smiled and went over to hold Akane in his
arms, and then said, "Well get the heck outta here and let
Akane sleep then. I'll see you both at work tomorrow, OK?
Gotta start getting together money for China!"
	Ryouga and Ukyou agreed, and then went over to hug
Akane goodbye. After they had left, Akane relaxed back in
Ranma's arms and enjoyed the feeling of security.
	Ranma gave her a lopsided grin and commented, 
"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?"
	Akane smiled back at him, then closed her eyes and
started to relax, her head-wound still painful and the loss
of blood making her sleepy.
	But before she let herself fall asleep she mumbled
to Ranma, happily, "Forgiveness is a wonderful thing..." 

End of Chapter XIII