Thanks to all who commented on this story, in particular David Lerman
whose comments led to the biggest changes in this part. C&C is still
welcome as always. If no one suggests any more major changes then this
entire series will go out to RAAC.

If anyone needs parts 1-3, they may be downloaded from my web site
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics , or requested from me via
E-mail.

			    A PEACEFUL LIFE

	    A Ranma 1/2 alternate universe manga fanfiction
			    by Gary Kleppe

	     Any comments of any type will be appreciated.

	The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of and rightful
property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are used here without permission.
This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered
substantially or used for profit in any way.


			   Part 4: Regrets

				=======

	I woke up to the sight of Akane's face. It was red, as if she'd
been crying. "Ranma! I'm so sorry!" she said.

	I tried to move, and found that I couldn't. My back and head
were strapped to some weird contraption. My instinctive response was to
try to bust out of it.

	Kasumi leaned over and held my hand. "You're going to be all
right, Ranma. Please don't try to move. You need to stay in bed until
the doctor says it's okay for you to get up." She gave me a smile, the
same one that I'd seen from her a hundred times before, but somehow it
told me that I really would be all right.

	From the bed I was in, and the dumb-looking thing I was wearing,
I realized that I was in the hospital. Kasumi turned my bed so I faced
the front, and I could see Pop, Mr. Tendo, and Nabiki.

	Mr. Tendo could barely contain himself. "He's going to be all
right!!" he said, crying tears of joy.

	"Of course he is, he's my son!" Pop said confidently.

	"Absolutely," said Nabiki. "I've got Ranma for a full recovery
within two weeks at five to one odds." I hoped she was joking. I'd hate
to think who it was that bet against me.

	Akane just repeated how sorry she was. Then I remembered that it
wasn't her who did this to me. It had been Dr. Tofu. He had had his arms 
around my neck when he had turned to see Kasumi. Then I had felt
something snap...

	A small, elderly woman entered. "I am Kin Ono," she said to me.
"My son is Doctor Tofu Ono. My son wants you to know that he deeply
regrets what happened to you, Ranma. He was not in control of himself.
He has gone to seek help from his martial arts master. He has asked me
to make sure that you receive the best medical care possible, and I will
do just that."

	"I think I speak for everyone here when I say we bear no ill
will toward your son, ma'am. None of us blame him for what happened,"
said Mr. Tendo. I tried to nod in assent but couldn't. I looked at
Akane. It was obvious that it wasn't Tofu that she blamed, either.

	A man wearing a lab coat came in the room, and everyone
immediately cleared a path to my bed for him. "I am Doctor Eryu Hu," the
small-faced man said, his voice betraying a trace of Chinese accent.
"How are you feeling, Ranma?"

	"Okay, I guess. Can I get out of this dumb thing, Doc?"

	The doctor gave a friendly chuckle. "Not yet, I'm afraid. In
another few days, we'll run some tests. If all goes well, you should be
out of your supports after that, and on your way back to a normal life."

	"Normal as in normal for me? Or just normal?" I asked. Two very
different things.

	"Ranma, your spinal cord had been damaged. We've managed to
reconstruct, and after you recuperate you should be able to function as
if the damage had never occured. But if you were to take another blow in
the wrong place, everything we've fixed could be undone."

	"Are you saying..." I asked.

	"I'm afraid that I'm saying your days as a martial artist are
over."

				=======

	I wasn't there for what happened next, but Ryoga's told the
story to me about a billion times. Akane was up in her room. She was
crying. "P-chan, it's all my fault! None of this would've happened if I
hadn't forced Ranma to get engaged to Kasumi! Now Ranma can't do martial
arts anymore, Dr. Tofu's practice is ruined... I've ruined both their
lives! I'm a terrible person, P-chan. I don't deserve to live..."

	P-chan motioned to Akane. "What is it, P-chan? You want to get
out of the room? You want me to follow you?" What Ryoga was doing took
guts, I have to admit that. Maybe more guts than anything he'd ever done
before.

	Akane was on overload already, and she seemed to have little
mind left at that time to question the odd behavior of her pet. P-chan
led his owner down the hall, trembling nervously all the way, until he
got to the bathroom. Akane watched as her little pet turned the hot
water faucet with his little pig arms...

	"RYOGA!!"

	Ryoga covered himself with a towel. "Yes, it's me. I've been
P-chan all along, ever since I got knocked into that cursed spring. I
couldn't tell you because I thought you'd hate me for it."

	Akane stood flabbergasted, unable to take in the revelation.
"How... why..."

	The emotion that had been dammed up inside Ryoga for so long
came pouring out in a jumbled flood. "I love you, Akane! You're not a
terrible person. If anyone is, I am. I've been deceiving you from the
beginning, to be able to spend time with you. Because I thought you'd
hate who I really was. I don't care if you hate me now. It doesn't
matter anymore. But don't ever say you don't deserve to live. I'd gladly
give my life for yours!"

	"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Akane screamed as she grabbed Ryoga by his
headband and swung back her fist. She seemed about to take Ryoga up on
his offer to give his life, or at least provide me with a new roommate
at the hospital.

	At the last moment Akane held back. "Get your clothes on and
get the hell out of my house," she said, her voice more hurt than angry.

	That's the way Ryoga tells the story, anyway. Personally I
wonder if he didn't just turn the water on himself and stand there
pleading for his life. Either way I have to respect him for what he did,
though. It was a start. Not a great start, the start of something
honest between them, something that would eventually let their
relationship evolve from pet and owner to much more...

				=======

	Pop and Mr. Tendo decided that the end of May was a good time
for a wedding. Kodachi was going to be out of town then.

	I still wasn't sure I really wanted to go through with it,
though.

	"Maybe I shouldn't get married to anybody," I said to Kasumi.
"Maybe I should just tell Pop where he can stick his arranged marriage
thing."

	Kasumi took my hand and smiled, her expression reassuring me
that no matter what happened things would be all right. "Ranma-kun, you
have a good heart. I'd be proud to be your wife, if that's what you
truly want. That's what you need to decide. Look deep inside yourself
and see what's there."

	I looked inside myself and saw... nothing. I didn't know what
to do, which path to take on the trip that would last my whole life.

	"Maybe talking with Akane would help," Kasumi said as she went
to the kitchen.

	Akane? Why, I wondered. Why would I want to talk to her? But it
was worth a try. I hadn't seen much of Akane lately. Everytime I had seen
her she'd make some excuse and run off. It was pretty obvious that she
felt guilty about what had happened to me.

	The enormity of it all suddenly hit me. No more martial arts.
Ever. What had been my whole reason for existence so far was no more.
A tidal wave of despair engulfed me, no longer to be denied. Damn this
body of mine! Turning into a girl was nothing compared to this curse.

	I wanted to scream. No. I wanted to run outside and pick a fight
with Ryoga, with Kodachi, with anyone I could find. The hell with what
might happen to me! I'd always survived before! But I knew that this was
different. I knew then that if I got into another fight, I could end up as
a human vegetable, or just plain dead.

	If it had been just me I might have taken my chances. But in
the back of my mind I knew what my dying or getting crippled could do to
Akane and Kasumi. Akane was already going through incredible guilt just
because of what had happened already. And Kasumi. She'd already lost one
guy who might have ended up as her husband. Was I going to let her be
married to a vegetable?

	Akane and Kasumi. They would have to be my reason for existence
from now on.

	I found Akane practicing in the dojo. I stood for a moment and
watched. She really is good, I thought.

	Akane stopped and gave me a cheerful but awkward smile. "Ranma!
So, it looks like we're going to be family at last!"

	"Uh, yeah, looks that way. You're looking good. Your martial
arts, I mean. Getting even better every day. One of these days you might
be the best in the whole country."

	"Th-thanks. I'd better go and... Oh Ranma, I'm so sorry. It
should be you. If I hadn't pushed you into getting engaged to Kasumi..."

	"Hey, that wasn't your fault. The engagement thing wasn't your 
idea. The whole thing was just, y'know, one of those things that
happen." I tried to think of something, anything, to change the subject.
"So, you've been seeing Ryoga, huh. I know that he reallly likes you."

	"I know. I kind of understand why he was pretending to be
P-chan. I'm not mad at him anymore for that. He's nice. Sometimes too
nice. I wish he wouldn't act like a doormat around me. Did you know that
some kid from our school has been following Ryoga around lately? He says
he's trying to learn his weak spot."

	"Yeah. Gosunkugi. Ryoga told me that he doesn't mind. Gosunkugi
being there is the only way he can find his way around town." Akane and
I shared a laugh at that.

	"Anyway," Akane said, "I guess with my bad temper I'd need
someone as durable as he is." And I'm not anymore, I thought. I felt a
pang of regret just then. I'm not sure why, It wasn't like I ever wanted
to marry Akane. But I felt like something was closed off forever, some
chapter of my life that would now never be written.

			       *********

	I finished off my evening snack and handed the plate to Kasumi,
who rinsed it off in the sink. "Do you have a busy day ahead of you
tomorrow?" she asked me.

	"Not too much, just a couple of students. How about you?"

	"I've got the laundry to do, and the living room is due for a
cleaning."

	"Hey, the living room is clean already. And I wouldn't mind
wearing dirty clothes for a little while. Why don't we take the day off?
I'll cancel my students and we'll get somebody to watch the kids. We can
go find Akane and Ryoga and help them track down where that Ice Demon
came from! Then we..."

	Kasumi didn't say anything. She just looked at me, looked right
through me. A look that told me I was too late, that I had had a choice
a long time ago, but now the choice was made. There was nothing more to
be done. If there was anything to learn, it was that decisions that you
don't make get made for you. Or else that a peaceful life isn't bad, but
there's something to be said for interesting times too.


[End]
Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics