Here, finally, is the semi-final version of AToB - final plot-wise
(probably), but not fully corrected &c. Need I say that all comments
are appreciated?

                         ------------------
                        | A TRAIL OF BLOOD |
                         ------------------

                                 ***

  As Genma ran wildly, his eyes trembled with fear. Though his glance
darted quickly around him, he did not register the houses that he
passed, one after another, just kept looking for that one thing.

  He spoke quickly, almost incoherently, to himself.

  "She's coming!"

                                 ***

  That morning, he and his son had their usual training session, and
as always, they both ended up in the pond. Ranma ran off to school,
but Genma stayed outside for a while, and when he finally trudged
inside to get some hot water, the mail-man had already been there.

                                 ***

  He shuddered at the memory. "She's coming."

                                 ***

  As Soun held up the postcard, a few drops of sweat ran down his
brow, and his hands trembled slightly. He read aloud, his voice
unsteady.

  "I'm coming for a visit next tuesday. I'll be arriving around
9'o'clock. Love, Nodoka."

  "Today's tuesday," Genma said, smiling confidently. "It's a full
week until she comes. Why are you worrying?"

  Soun nodded, his worry slowly dissipating. He threw the postcard
away, as if to show that he couldn't care less.

  His hands still shook, though, and after a short flight, the card
landed on the floor beside the bin, where Kasumi bent down and picked
it up. She was about to discard it, when she noticed something.

  "Oh my!" she exclaimed.

                                 ***

  "She's coming!" Genma ran faster.

                                 ***

  "Look!" she said, pointing to the date mark. "Last week!" She shook
her head disapprovingly. "The postal company has been really slow."

                                 ***

  "Aaaah!"

  Genma cried out, his voice betraying the deep fear he felt.

  "She's coming. She's coming. She's coming. She's coming." As he
crossed the street hastily, looking but not observing, he repeated
the three words like a mantra.

                                 ***

  The truckdriver whistled along to the happy tune on the radio. The
day was hot, and his attention was only half-fixed on the road in
front of him. When he noticed the middle-aged man crossing, it was
already too late.

                                 ***

  The brakes screamed in vain as the front of the truck hit Genma
with a thud. All around, people turned to stare. It was as if the
world had temporarily stopped. The driver watched, paralyzed, as a
few drops of blood flew soundlessly from the now badly deformed
body.

  The effect was broken when it hit the ground a couple of yards
away, jerking a few times and then collapsing as Genma was enveloped
by unconsciousness.

  Less than a second had passed, but the driver could have sworn it
took him a full minute to realise what had happened.

  When he finally came to his senses, he removed his foot from the
pedal, rushing up from his seat. A voice cried out, "Somebody call
119!"

                                 ***

  When the ambulance arrived, it was already too late. No doctor in
the world could restore the bloody lump of meat to life again.

                                 ***

  Nodoka held the katana high into the air, her blood on the verge of
boiling.

  "Where is my husband?" she asked, her voice dripping with acid.

  "Er..." Soun sweated, but finally managed to bring himself to his
senses. "He's on a training trip." He smiled apologetically, inwardly
congratulating himself for the clever excuse.

  "But I sent a card over a week ago!"

  "Yes, er, but, you see, it was late. In fact, it just arrived!" He
kept smiling blissfully - that wasn't even a lie!

  "Hmph." Nodoka lowered the katana, a dissappointed look now on her
face. "I suppose my son is with him?"

  Soun nodded frenetically and smiled for all he was worth.

  "Well, I'll wait here for a while. At least I'll get a chance to
see his fiancee."

  For a brief moment, the smile dissappeared, and the Tendo father
stared at her in shock. Ar first he looked like he was about to
protest, but he decided against it, and kept nodding. "Yes, that's
fine." By now, he was sweating heavily. "Kasumi, can you bring our
guest some tea?"

  "Yes, father."

                                 ***

  "What? ... Yes, he lives here ... Hai." Kasumi turned around,
smiling as always. "Father, it's for you."

  Taking the phone from his eldest daughter, Soun sighed tiredly,
wondering what his friend had done now.

  "Yes ... yes ... I see." Tears started welling up in his eyes.
"Yes, I'll come right away. Bye."

  When he had hung up, he could no longer control himself. Streams of
water, seemingly endless, flooded down his cheeks. "My old friend..."

  Nodoka, of course, was immediately concerned. "Mr. Tendo? What is
it?"

  Kasumi just looked worriedly at her father.

  Finally, they managed to calm him down enough to get a few coherent
words out of him. "The police ... must go to ... the station ... you
should come, too."

                                 ***

  As they reached the scene of the accident, the street was already
more or less clear of people. In the center of a pool of blood, a
stained blanket covered something roughly human-sized.

  A uniformed policeman motioned for them to come forward.

  "I'm sorry about this. The body is badly scarred, so we need your
help to identify it. Not a pretty sight, I'm afraid. Are you ready?"
Soun nodded, and the man removed the blanket.

  The river of tears that once again starting flowing was all the
answer he needed.

  Nodoka was fighting back tears, too. She hadn't seen her husband in
ten years. Now she never would.

                                 ***

  "Tomboy!"

  As always, they had been fighting on their way back from school,
and just as they entered the dojo, Akane gave Ranma a blow with the
ever-present mallet.

  It took him a moment to recover. The next shock was of a less
physical nature.

  "M... mo... mother..." Ranma stammered. Then, he saw the sad look
in her eyes, and noticed the absence of a certain person. Anger
started rising from within. "What's pop done NOW?"

  A few seconds of stillness passed before she could bring herself to
speak. "Oh, Ranma ... I'm so glad to see you ... I only wish it could
have been under happier circumstances." She sobbed silently.

  "Ranma," Soun said to the boy, "Genma ... your father ... he's
dead." Had he not already emptied himself of tears, he would have
cried again.

  Nodoka finally let her tears out, leaning on her son's shoulder.
"He was run over by a truck ... earlier this morning."

  Ranma held his mother, trying to comfort her. He would have cried,
too, but he could not allow himself to do that. Not in front of his
mother. Even if his father had not been the best of persons, he could
not dishonor his memory by making his mother think he hadn't been
raised to be a true man.

  It was not easy, though.

                                 ***

  Ranma lay on his futon, arms fold behind his neck. It was dark
outside, but he could not sleep, just stare into the ceiling,
thinking about what had happened.

  If he'd been asked a few days ago how he would've reacted if he
found out his pop was dead, he would probably have said that he
couldn't care less.

  He now realized that such wasn't the case. True, Genma had done
some pretty nasty things - but he wasn't really a bad man. When he
threw his son into the cat nest all those years ago, it was with the
hope that Ranma would learn a devastating new technique. At Jusenkyo,
all he had planned was some balance training.

  No, he wasn't evil - just stupid. Stupidity was not something you
deserved to die for.

  The door slowly creaked open, and a face peeked in. Akane. Seeing
that he was awake, she proceeded to enter.

  "Ranma," she whispered, "I'm so sorry..."

  "Hmph." He merely snorted. "Easy for you to say. You don't know
what it's like to suddenly lose one of your parents..." He suddenly
noticed that her face was assuming a red color, and realised what
he'd just said.

  "I'm..." His voice trembled. "I'm sorry. You do." Now that his
mother wasn't there, his eyes watered slightly.

  Akane sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him. She said nothing,
but the look in her eyes were enough to show her sympathy.

  "Mother ... How can I tell her now? Father's death is hard enough
on her. If she knew ... no." He shook his head sadly. "No."

                                 ***

  Akane looked at her fiance's sleeping body, a bucket ready in her
hands. "It's good he finally managed to fall asleep," she thought,
"but..."

  "OW!" Ranma screamed as he was drenched in cold water, instantly
coming wide awake. "Why'd you do that? Stupid tomboy..."

  "Hmph." Akane snorted, turned around and walked out of the room,
muttering to herself. "If you wanna be late to school, fine by me.
Not like I care or anything."

  "But father always wakes me up early to..." He realised what he was
saying before he completed the sentence. "Father always..."

  Rushing out of his room and jumping down the stairs in a single
impressive leap, he soon caught up with her, a slightly apologetical
look on his face.

                                 ***

  Ranma walked atop the fence, though slightly less care-free than
usual, and Akane followed below. Halfway to school, they saw Shampoo
biking frantically towards them.

  Some things never change - or do they?

  The chinese girl always seemed happy when she saw her darling, and
her eyes almost visibly formed two big hearts.

  Ranma cursed inaudibly as she neared them, and his fiancee glowed
irritatedly at the blue-haired girl. Didn't she even have the decency
not to glomp on Ranma while he was still mourning his father?

  Obviously, she didn't. "Darling! You happy?" she burst out as she
approached.

  This took the pair back slightly, and when he'd regained his
senses, Ranma managed to say in a confused tone, "What?"

  "Now stupid old man dead, he not in the way, trying to make Ranma
marry dumb violent girl." She stuck out her tongue at the one
mentioned. "Ranma and Shampoo can get married!" She threw herself at
him.

  "Go away, Shampoo." Ranma's voice was cold as ice. "Go away." He
broke free of her embrace effortlessly.

  The girls both stared at him in shock. Even if she wasn't about to
admit it anytime soon, Akane knew he didn't really like it when that
chinese bimbo tried to catch him, but he'd never been able to get
free that easy before!

  Even if subconciously, she had probably realised long ago that her
darling didn't care for her at all, the amazon never allowed that
thought to reach out of the deeply hidden part of her mind where it
originated, instead making excuses to herself. "See you later!" She
bounced away, keeping up the mask of happiness.

                                 ***

  Happosai sighed.

  The old man with the enormous white beard, wearing a hawaii-shirt,
managed to give him a curious look despite the dark sun-glasses.
"What's up, buddy?"

  "You remember my best student?"

  "Yeah, sure do!" The other laughed. "You told me he turns into a
panda! Ha!"

  "He's dead." Happosai sighed again.

  His old friend looked worriedly at him. It wasn't like Happo to
care about anything. "Too bad."

  "Yeah." The old lecher had a very depressed expression on his face.
"Bastard didn't even have the decency to leave any daughters for his
master to comfort!"

  He immediately lost his serious expression.

  "So," Happosai said when they'd stopped laughing, "how's things
with your student?"

  "Bah. Hopeless. He can hardly distinguish a girl from a boy."
Kamesennin answered, a tired look in his eyes.

                                 ***

  Ukyo's face lit up immediately when she saw Ranma enter. It lost
some of it's brightness when Akane followed close behind, but still,
she was glad he'd decided to drop by.

  They sat down at a table, Ranma sinking heavily into his chair.
Noting this, Ukyo approached, looking worriedly at his tired face and
bloodshot eyes.

  "What's the matter, Ranchan?" She smiled, trying to cheer him up.
"Your pop died or something?" Inwardly, she sighed. That was too much
to ask for.

  "Yeah." Ranma nodded.

  Ukyo's heart stopped for a moment. The bastard was gone. Dead.
She had to restrain herself from shouting out her joy. Ranma's
current state was proof enough he wouldn't like that.

  "How sad," she said, trying to sound sincere.

  She was saved from having to keep up the act when the door opened
and a boy entered.

  "Excuse me, but could you tell me the way to..." Ryoga never got
to the end of the sentence. First, he saw that he'd entered Ucchan's.

  Then, he spotted Ranma.

  And Akane.

  And Ukyo.

  As so many times before, his blood-temperature increased rapidly.
"Ranma..." he sputtered, "you bastard! Doesn't it bother you at all
that your father is dead!"

  A stunning silence followed. This time, he'd gone too far.

  When the lost boy himself realised that, he was lying in a heap of
garbage several blocks away, slowly regaining consciousness.

                                 ***

  Ranma cursed as he reached for a napkin to dry himself (now
herself) off. "Did you *have* to do that? Clumsy tomboy!"

  Akane, of course, didn't like being insulted, smashing the empty
glass into his forehead, which produced a satisfying crunching sound.
"It was an *accident*, OK?"

  The argument was interrupted when, again, someone entered the
restaurant. This someone was Ranma's mother.

  "Ranko and Akane? Isn't Ranma with you?"

  Akane was about to answer, but her fiance was quicker. "Sorry, he
already left. He's probably on his way home."

  "OK. See you later, then."

  After she'd left, Ranma spoke up. "That was to close. A few moments
earlier and she would've seen me transform."

  Akane nodded. "You won't be able to hide it for ever."

  "After the funeral ... I'll leave." He sighed. "You'll have to tell
the others."

  "Leave?"

  "Yeah. There must be a cure somewhere, and I'll find it, no matter
how long it takes."

                                 ***

  Atop the funeral pyre burned the remains of what was once Saotome
Genma, and around it was gathered his family and friends - and some
who were not either.

  Nodoka stared at the burning body of her husband, tears flowing
freely down her cheeks. How proud had she not been that day ten years
ago, when despite her threats, despite his obvious fear of her and
her katana, he had insisted he would take their son on a training
trip to make him a real man?

  How much did she not regret now that she had let them go? That she
hadn't tried to find them earlier?

  Unknown to all but her, another fire also burned. It was in
Nodoka's house, and atop it lay a piece of paper, a contract signed
ten years ago by her husband and son.

  Ranma's gaze was also directed at the pyre. Even he could not hold
back his tears now. His father, who had been his only family, the
only constant in his life, for ten years. His father, who never had
anything but what was best for his son in sight, too often staring
himself blind at it. His father, who should've had many years left to
live. His father - dead.

  Ukyou didn't look at the fire, just at Ranma. She wished she
would've been able to hold him, to comfort him, but how could she
possibly do taht when she had so many times herself wanted to take
the life of the one being buried?

  "Oh, Ranchan," she thought, "how can you be sad? Why can't you see
what a bad man he was?"

  Even in death, he increased the distance between them.

  Akane, too, looked more at Ranma than at his father, whom she had
never really known.

  She'd never seen him cry before. Most likely, no-one had. She had
been crushed when her mother passed away, and she at least had one
parent left, and Ranma almost didn't, but still, she was surprised.
They never seemed very close before.

  Soun was, as could be expected, a total wreck. After just a few
minutes, he had to leave the funeral. Had it not been such a sad
occasion, someone would, undoubtedly, have joked about his tears
nearly putting the fire out.

  Not even Happosai was unmoved. Genma had been a lot of fun.
Admittedly, being locked up in a cave wasn't very nice - Genma, if
anyone, should see that he never meant any harm. During his long
life, though, he'd seen a lot of people die, and one more didn't
really affect him much.

  The body continued burning. An hour later, the flames had mostly
died down, and all that remained of Saotome Genma was a pile of ash.

                                 ***

  Ranma looked at Nerima, and the place where he'd lived for the last
couple of months. He sighed. Despite all the trouble, it had been a
good time. He wished he didn't have to do this, but he had to remove
his curse. He couldn't risk letting his mother find out.

  Not for his own sake, but for hers.

  He took a final look at the Dojo, and walked off.

  Ranma hadn't gotten far when he heard footsteps quickly approaching
from behind, and a familiar voice cried out.

  "Wait for me you *BAKA*!"

                                 ***

AUTHOR'S NOTES!
---------------
All C&C deeply appreciated, no matter how unimportant it may seem!
Email me (tharkon@fan.net) or use ICQ (UIN 181261). For other stuff,
check out "http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-10956/creative/fanfic/".

Yeah, I know it may seem like I intend to continue this. I don't, at
least not in a near future. This started as the question "What would
happen if Genma died in an accident?" and it's a shortfic on that
theme. Nothing else.

An 18k shortfic, and it took well over three weeks to write. OK, I'm
slow and lazy. So sue me.

A big, heartfelt "thanx" to all who've commented on previous
incarnations of this 'fic - in chronological order, Warr, Richard
Robinson, David Johnston, William Jones (Brad?), J. Austin Wilde,
Flashman, Robert Morrison (the Eternally Lost Lurker), LaShawn M.
Taylor, and Eric Adams - and an extra big one to Gary Kleppe.

Plus, of course, Takahashi Rumiko and Toriyama Akira. I don't use a
disclaimer 'cause no routinely written disclaimer can convey the
respect I feel for creators like them.

---
[Tharkon^SMC] [Ronny Hedin] [2:200/505.8@fido] [tharkon@fan.net]
              [http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-10956/]