First fic alert. This isn't the first thing I have written. But it is the first on I have even considered posting to the FFML. If you have read any kind of fan fiction before then you have seen the disclaimers that all (well almost all) fics have. I was warned that my previous please don't sue me statement was almost an open invitation to sue. Well, please don't sue. I have no real money I am a poor college student. My estimated net worth could not even come to a thousand dollars. C&C is welcomed and encouraged. Flames aren't, really. I have had this idea for a little over a year. Apologies to Belphera who has posted on the FFML a story called Revival. I am sorry if the similarity offends. Thanks to all my pre-readers, who helped improve this work greatly. Special thanks to Toby Kilbreath, to many more idea contributions and she will be given co-author credit. As a final note Kasumi might be a little OOC, at least from the cannon. I prescribe (at least in this fic) to the idea that Kasumi isn't nearly as oblivious as she seems. Here it is. -------------------- Thoughts <> Authors notes () Stressed words -- Sound FX ** Ranma in girl form -chan -------------------- What has happened before: A mysterious stranger has come to the Tendo Dojo with a delivery for Ranma. That delivery is a small, female, child. Information given to Ranma indicates that the child is Saotome Miko...And Ranma is registered as her father... Kasumi is the only other person at the Dojo besides Ranma, she is very surprised at how easily Ranma accepts Miko, and wonders who Miko's parents really are... After a bath Miko calls Ranma "daddy", something that completely floors Ranma... Miko has trouble sleeping, so she sleeps with Ranma. It is now morning, and the rest of the Saotome and Tendo clans are due in latter that day... -------------------- Ranma 1/2: Childhood Mysteries Part 3: Times are a Changing -------------------- It is morning at the Tendo Dojo. Kasumi was already awake and preparing breakfast. Both Ranma and Miko were still asleep. Thought they wouldn't be asleep long... Ranma thinks to himself, not really awake yet, It is at this point, that Ranma realizes that it is slightly warmer in the futon that it usually is, and that only one of the breathing sounds really belongs to him. With a sinking feeling Ranma realizes that last nights dream...Wasn't exactly a dream. Ranma worries, while carefully loosing Miko's death grip around his chest, Ranma carefully goes down stairs, and Miko just turns over in Ranma's futon, her dreams suddenly turning for the worse. -------------------- Kasumi thinks to herself as she continues to go about cooking breakfast, Once again, Ranma appears just as Kasumi begins to think about him. He seems a little thoughtful and worried, but that look passes quickly when he spots Kasumi, "Morning Kasumi, how are you?" Kasumi gives Ranma that smile that only she seems to be able to do and replies, "Ok, Ranma. You know Ranma I had a really strange dream last night..." *Sigh* "It wasn't a dream Kasumi. I really do have a daughter, she's still asleep." "Oh, my. (Sorry) Ranma whatever are you going to do?" "I don't know. But I am trying not to worry to much about it, if I do I might lose it completely." "Hi Ranma," Yells Happosai, flinging the usual bucket of water at Ranma, triggering the curse, "Let an old man rest in your glorious bosom." Suiting word to action Happosai glomps onto Ranma-chan's chest. Ranma reacts predictably and pounds the old man away. "Ranma, who was that girl last night?" Happosai asks, tensing to leap in for another glomp. "I told you last night you old man. It's none of your business." Ranma yells at the shrunken martial arts master. "Stay away from her." "Come on Ranma, I'm not going to hurt her, you can tell your beloved master who she is." Happosai makes the mistake of glomping onto Ranma-chan again. Ranma punches Happosai into the koi pond (of course). "Ok Ranma, you either tell me who that girl is, or you can have this." With these words Happosai pulls out one of his fireworks and prepares to toss it at Ranma-chan. "Not today you old letch,"* POW* and Happosai is now air-born, explosive still in hand. He makes it several hundred feet from the Dojo when it goes off with a giant *BOOM*. ----------------------- The sound of the explosion causes Miko to start in her sleep and leap back to awareness. Without opening her eyes she tries to discover where she is, "NOOOOOO!" Miko screams out loud. She shoots up straight in the futon and begins crying to herself, "No, it wasn't a dream, it wasn't, I know it wasn't a dream, it can't have been a dream." Miko continues to cry to herself, slowly becoming aware of the world around her, which is not the place she feared it was, and of the worried faces of the two people that she just meet last night. "Daddy!" Miko cries out and grabs Ranma in a hug tighter than one Shampoo has ever given, totally cutting off Ranma's air supply. Despite of not being able to breathe Ranma is relived, Miko doesn't appear to be hurt. But when she doesn't stop crying Ranma begins to panic. Ranma looks to Kasumi with a pleading look on his face. Seeing Ranma's look, and his swiftly changing face hue, Kasumi takes pity on Ranma and using her most comforting tones she carefully tries to pry Miko from Ranma, but only succeeds in transferring Miko's death grip from Ranma to herself. "It's ok Miko, it's ok. You are safe here." Ranma takes his cue from Kasumi and also adopts a soothing tone, "I ain't going to leave you Miko, you are with me now. I ain't going to let anyone hurt you. You understand?" Miko smiles thorough her tears and nods to Ranma, but still doesn't release her grip on Kasumi. Kasumi begins to notice that she can't breathe and decides something needs to be done before she passes out. "Come on Miko, why don't you let go of me and come have some breakfast." Miko decides that this is a good idea, and lets go of Kasumi. Ranma smiles at Miko and goes and gets another of the outfits Kasumi had found for Miko and as the two of them help Miko dress both notice that the clothing is looking old and a little threadbare. Both also notice Miko's rather poor physical shape. Kasumi recommends Ranma goes shopping for some newer clothing for Miko. Ranma isn't happy with this idea and makes some token protests, but Miko's hopeful look soon changes his mind, though he still grumbles about not wanting to do 'girlish' things. --------------------- The three have gone downstairs and have begun to have breakfast. It seems Miko still has a tremendous appetite and is well on the way to out eating Ranma. "Thank you pretty lady," Miko thanks Kasumi after she has destroyed her portion of breakfast. "You are welcomed Miko, but please call me Kasumi." "Ok...Aunt Kasumi." Kasumi's reaction to being called 'aunt' isn't that different than Ranma's reaction to 'daddy'. She is completely shocked that this child has come to trust her so much in such a short period of time. She realizes now that this child is now very much a part of the family, and that removing Miko from her family would be the same as killing her. With Ranma Miko finally has someone who at least makes all the motions of caring for her. And it seems to Kasumi that she has joined that rather exclusive group that is a child's trust. "Your welcome Miko." Kasumi tries not to let any of her rather stunned feelings out, but Ranma's rather 'she got you too' grin told her she wasn't entirely succeeding. "Alright Ranma why don't you get ready, and then you can take Miko shopping." Ranma's face falls as he realizes that he hasn't gotten out of the shopping trip. *Sigh* "Alright Kasumi." Ranma heads upstairs for a minute, getting ready for the shopping trip. After finishing his preparations Ranma heads downstairs, collects Miko, and heads towards the nearest mall, ---------------------- As soon as she is sure they are gone Kasumi heads up to Ranma's room. Kasumi begins a short, but through, examination of the room Ranma shares with his father. Unfortunately, and much to her frustration, Kasumi is unable to find any of the papers Ranma showed her concerning Miko's parentage. Kasumi begins to check around the room again, and this time notices a note on Ranma's desk that she missed the first time. The note is in Ranma's rather poor handwriting, made even sloppier by the haste it was written in. The note goes makes Kasumi laugh, "Dear Kasumi," Kasumi reads out-loud, "If you are looking for Miko's birth certificate, it is downstairs on a shelf. Don't bother trying to see if there is anything else, I have already hidden all that stuff in a place not even Nabiki could find it in." After getting a short laugh at Ranma's note Kasumi sobers up and slowly goes over the room one more time. ----------------------- (Alright, my pre-readers pointed out the tactical error of having Ranma in girl form in the next screen without actually mentioning the change. Well Ranma is a water magnet, and in between leaving the Dojo and arriving at the mall lots of chances for a change are possible. He just has chosen not to change back yet.) ----------------------- Miko thinks as Ranma-chan leads her into a store specializing in clothing for women, "Daddy...I mean Ranma...er, why are you like that right now?" Ranma has a nervous expression on his...her face as she leads Miko into the department store, "This store only sells clothing to girls, and I don't want anyone I know seeing me here, I will never live it down." "Oh." Miko is still confused but decides to let the matter drop, "Oh isn't this dress pretty? Please can we get this dress?" Ranma's fears prove all to true as Miko begins to drag him from rack to rack of clothes, trying on everything in sight. She even tries to get Ranma to try some clothing, and after several attempts (employing some pleading and a couple tears) gets Ranma into a cute red sundress. Ranma is completely discussed with it, but finds he can't refuse Miko for very long. Ranma has begun to beg to the gods that no one he knows sees him, especially one person in particular... "A glories day this is, hark do my eyes deceive me? Is this form that graces my eyes my glories pig-tailed goddess? Hello my dear goddess, you are trying to make yourself pretty for a date with the noble Kuno Tatewaki." "I have told you before Blue Dunder, I ain't going to date you." Ranma is cursing the fates that brought the absolute worse person to her at the absolutely worse time. "Hark, what is this vision of youthful beauty is this? Perhaps your cousin or your sister, my pig-tailed beauty." Ranma grins a rather nasty idea, "Nay, my gentle Tatewaki, this is mine offspring. Is not my child a truly great beauty?" Kuno, for once, is stunned beyond his usual speech mode. "-No-, this can't be. Who is the father of this demon child?" Ranma is stunned by Kuno's rapid change in attitude, and forgets to keep up her formal speech, "My, child is -not- a demon, -Tatewaki-, and you don't need to know who her father is." Ranma guides the slightly stunned Miko away with their purchases, stopping only long enough to change back into her usual Chinese outfit, leaving a stammering and shocked Kuno. Kuno stands stock still for several minutes, his mind furiously trying to fit in Miko into the world he has created in his mind. Unfortunately Miko's existence is contrary to Kuno's deepest beliefs, that his pig-tailed goddess is as pure as snow, and that he is the only one she sees as a love. Struggling with this unimaginable (at least to him) paradox Kuno comes to the decision that only one person could be the source of this dilemma... "-No-, that foul sorcerer Saotome has defiled the laws of nature itself and has summoned a demon in the likeness of a child, to force my beloved pig-tailed one away from her true love. He will not get away with this fallacy. First I will destroy the foul sorcerer, then that demon-spawn that wears the guise of an innocent child. I Kuno Tatewaki, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High -swear- it!" With these words Kuno runs of to get a true weapon to do the foul sorcerer and his demon away with. Thoughts of glorious victory running through his head, along with the dream of a grateful pig-tailed goddess... ---------------------- Ranma-chan and Miko spend another couple hours shopping, Ranma seems to be a little less reluctant to be shopping with Miko as the length of the shopping trip increases. While she doesn't get to the point of actually enjoying the trip, Miko doesn't need to put in nearly as much effort to get Ranma-chan into a store. Along with clothes Ranma-chan has bought Miko some important items, like toothbrush and other personal items. Miko also got some not so important items, like a stuffed rabbit, (Ranma turned down the original idea of a stuffed cat down flat.) and a pretty rubber ball. "Daddy, I'm hungry." Miko quietly tells Ranma-chan after they have been shopping for about four hours. "Ok, Miko so am I, and what did I tell you about calling me 'daddy' in public?" Miko has the good sense to look slightly ashamed and look down at her feet. She isn't very sorry though. Ranma stops next to a bathroom in the food court, "Now, Miko you wait here a second, I am going to change back." Ranma steps into the bathroom and comes out less than a minute, once again male. Ranma takes Miko's hand and leads her down into the food court. Miko thinks, Ranma thinks to himself, Ranma and Miko purchase a large lunch and settle down to enjoy it. They eat quietly for several minutes when Kuno returns. Kuno is an almost rapid rage. He is carrying a real katana and is almost franticly searching for something. He then notices Ranma, and more importantly, to him at least, Miko. "At last I have found you demo child, with your death my lovely pig-tailed goddess will be free." Ranma looks at Miko, surprised by Kuno's rage, "Hold it Kuno, what are you doing? Attacking a child is low, even for you." "I see now child accursed Saotome, all I see is a demon in the guise of a child. A demon you no doubt you summoned to bind my beloved pig-tailed goddess to yourself in eternal slavery." Miko looks like she is about to burst into tears (she has just been called a demon, what would you do?). Ranma turns full to Kuno and yells, "That is stupid even for you Kuno." "Silence nave," Kuno yells, "And stand aside I am here for your demon, you I will slay later." Ranma quickly shifts into a combat stance and yells to Miko over his shoulder, "Miko, run!" Then Ranma attacks Kuno without preamble. Miko runs away quickly, and Kuno seeing his target fleeing quickly tries to follow, but is stopped by the enraged Ranma. The fight with Kuno goes relatively quickly, at least to an outside viewer. To Ranma, however, the fight seems to go on forever, he is so worried about Miko that Kuno lands a few glancing blows with his katana, causing minor cuts to appear on Ranma. The fight goes on for about a solid minute, and while Kuno has done more damage to Ranma than ever before, he is rapidly losing. In the end of the fight Kuno ends up buried in a wall. "Miko, Miko where are you?" Ranma calls out, pushing through the crowds that have gathered to see the fight, "Miko answer me!" Ranma is beginning to panic, "MIKO!" "Over here daddy." Miko's voice calls, calming Ranma's panic, slightly. Ranma looks in the direction of Miko's voice and sees...nothing. "Miko where are you? I can't see you." Ranma searches the area Miko's voice came from, but sees nothing. "Over here daddy," Miko giggles. Then Miko -appears- next to a trashcan, a place Ranma could have swore she wasn't a second ago, "I was hiding." Ranma is shocked by Miko's sudden appearance, "Whaa...How did you do that?" "Do what?" "Disappear like that." "I don't know what you are talking about." Miko's confusion is clearly evident in her voice. *Sigh* "Never mind," Ranma concedes, also ignoring Miko's calling him 'daddy' in public, "Are you hurt Miko." "My leg hurts," Miko whines, "What's wrong with it?" Ranma looks at Miko's leg, but sees noting wrong with it, then idea pops into Ranma's head, "Listen Miko, an old friend of mine just moved back into town, he can fix you right up." Miko accepts this and closely looks at her father, "Are you hurt daddy?" "Nah, its nothing." "Are you sure?" Miko gently touches one of the wounds on Ranma's sides, making him whimper a little, "You are hurt." Ranma clenches his teeth and manages to force out the words, "Nah, its nothing." Ranma gathers up Miko and their purchases and slowly caries them out of the mall leaving Kuno stuck in the wall. Kuno musses to himself, ---------------------- Ranma has taken Miko to a familiar looking clinic. One that has a 'Just reopened' sign on its front door. Miko seems nervous at being in a place so completely new to her, but trusts her father knows what he is doing. "Dr. Tofu, are you here?" Ranma asks as he enters the clinic, he carefully sets Miko down and calls out again, "Doc, I need your help." "In here Ranma," Dr. Tofu's voice echoes from one of the examination rooms, "Come right one in, I'll be with you in a second." Dr. Tofu steps out from the examination room, whipping of his glasses. He appears no different than before, just good old dependable Tofu. "What can I do for you Ranma, oh and who is this young lady?" Ranma reaches behind his head and nervously plays with his pigtail, "Well Doc, this is Miko (nervous pause), my daughter. We both need a check-up, and I sort of need to be patched up again." Tofu raises an eyebrow at this announcement, but decides not to make any major comments, "Ok Ranma, you first, then your daughter." Dr. Tofu's examination of Ranma is done in his usual efficient way, though slightly more gentle for Miko's sake, after the examination Dr. Tofu sets Ranma on his feet and Miko promptly hides behind them, shyly peaking out at Dr. Tofu, "That wasn't too bad, Ranma. However, I am going to ask that you don't get into anymore fights for a day or two, to make sure your fully healed." Ranma gives a rather ironic grin, "That might be a little hard Doc, you see Akane and our folks don't know about Miko yet. Now Miko needs a check-up, she complained about her leg about half an hour ago." Tofu looks carefully at the shy little girl and stoops down so their eyes are even with each other, "Hello Miko, I'm Dr. Ono Tofu, but you can call me Dr. Tofu. I try to make people that are hurt better. Can I look at your leg?" Miko nods at doctor Tofu and steps out from in front of Ranma's leg. Ranma carefully picks Miko up and places her on the examination table. Tofu carefully examines Miko's leg, and pokes a few pressure points, a few minutes later Dr. Tofu is finished with his examination. "There all done, Ranma I need to talk to you alone for a second or two." Ranma nods and turns to Miko, "Miko, why don't you go play with your new ball in the lobby." Miko smiles and nods at Ranma and heads out into the lobby, as soon as she is gone Dr. Tofu's face turns serious and he motions Ranma to sit down. "Ranma, I don't really want to be the one to tell you this," Tofu begins, "But something is seriously wrong with your daughters leg." "What?" "I am not entirely sure, but my guess would be that it was badly broken a long time ago. For some reason it didn't heal correctly. I fear that if she suffers from too much stress, her leg might get some serious complications." "I understand Doc, I'll do my best." Ranma responds. "Now Ranma, I know Miko is too old to be your daughter, so why don't you tell me what is going on?" Ranma frowns and thinks to himself for a moment then sighs and looks Dr. Tofu in the eye and says, "Only is you swear not to tell anyone else about any of this." Tofu nods his head, "I swear never to reveal any of your secret to another living soul." "Well Doc, it began like this..." ---------------------- (Don't you just hate me?) Miko has gotten her ball out of one of the bags of assorted purchases, and true to almost any child she is throwing the ball into the air and is trying to catch it. Unfortunately, at least from Miko's view, she is not very good at it. She continually missies the ball on its return journey. But now matter how bad she is at it she is still enjoying herself and is happily laughing to herself when she misses the ball. The ball passes between her hands, bounces off her head, and rolls into a corner. Miko turns and begins to walk towards the ball when someone drops down from the ceiling. The figure is wearing all brown, and wears a partial mask over his face. His isn't very tall, and has a disturbed expression on his face. Miko is scared, but convinced that if this person is bad her daddy will save her. Miko picks up her ball and decides to try to be friends, "Do you want to play?" She asks the figure. "Sorry, but I am afraid that I do not have the time" the figure says, his voice is friendly enough, but Miko doesn't relax any, "My name is Sasuke and I have a message I want you to give your father." Miko relaxes a little, but is still nervous, though for different reasons, , "What is it?" Sasuke sighs slightly and looks Miko in the eye, and while he can't do it very long Miko does see that he is very serious, "Tell him this. The Kunos' have gone totally insane, both Tatewaki and Kodachi are after your daughter. They have convinced themselves that your child must die for their loved one to be free. They told me to keep an eye on your daughter as they prepare, well I did what they asked and have found that your daughter is just what she seems to be, just a little girl. But, the Kunos think she is a demon, or very close to it, and are likely to try to kill her again. I think the Kunos have finally gone to far, and I want you to know that I am on your side now. I will try to give warnings to their attacks whenever possible, and for as long as I can. Can you remember that?" Miko has had a look that says she was thinking during Sasuke's message. After it is finished she nods and smiles at Sasuke, "I think I can." "Good, I must go, have fun with your ball." Miko waves to Sasuke with one had and then heads into the examination room where Ranma and Dr. Tofu are. ------------------------ "...And that's what happened." Ranma is finishing as Miko enters the room. "Hmm, well Ranma I do see the problems in that, I am not sure what you are going to do, but if you or Miko need my help just ask." Miko walks in between Tofu and Ranma to get their attention. "Daddy," she explains, "Somebody gave me a message for you." Ranma looks at Miko slightly startled that someone has given her a message, especially one for him, "Who was it?" He asks. "A little person named Sasuke," Miko replies, "He had a message for you." "What was it," Dr. Tofu asks. Miko then proceeded to repeat Sasuke's message for Ranma and Tofu. She told the message in a voice that was as close to Sasuke's as her voice could manage, she also repeated the message word for word. She started to look a little scared as she reached the end of the message, as if realizing for the first time what the message actually said. When she had finished both Dr. Tofu and Ranma look worried, Ranma also looked a little mad. "I can't believe it," Ranma muttered to himself, he begins to pace around the room as he thinks, "Both Kodachi and Kuno are after Miko. I thought Kodachi would be happy that the 'pig-tailed girl' would be no longer available to chase me. What are those idiots thinking, and more importantly, have they told anyone about Miko?" Ranma then looks towards Miko, he sees her scared faced and reassures her that no one will hurt her, a sentiment that Dr. Tofu echoes. "I better call the Dojo and tell them that we'll be home for diner," Ranma says out loud, "Doc, can I use your phone?" "Sure Ranma." ----------------------- Kasumi is preparing diner when the phone rings. "Hello," Kasumi begins, "Oh, hello Ranma, your at Tofu's? Ok, you'll also be home in time for dinner? Alright, everything should be ready here by the time you get back." Kasumi hangs up the phone and returns to her preparations when the rest of her family, along with the Saotomes, arrive all at once. After warmly greeting them Kasumi returns to the dinner, expanding its size to the increased amount of people, Kasumi's face becomes instantly troubled when she realizes that Ranma is going to be walking in completely unprepared. She quickly calls Dr. Tofu's clinic, but Ranma and Miko have already left and all she gets is Dr. Tofu (who for some reason doesn't lose it when she calls). Kasumi hangs up the phone and leans against the table it is on for a minute. Then she does something she hasn't done in years, she opens her mouth and says, "Shit!" Kasumi collects herself and thinks, Kasumi hurries off and begins the preparations for Ranma's arrival, not realizing that Ranma is carrying Miko, and is coming to the Dojo at his usual speed... ----------------------- Ranma arrives at the Dojo with a now laughing Miko, she enjoyed the piggy-back ride he gave her very much. Thinking that only Kasumi was home, and that she was expecting him Ranma didn't yell his usual greeting to the house. He drops off the packages containing the purchases at the front entrance and heads to the main room. The door to the main room is closed, but before he can open it Miko pulls on his pants leg. "What is it Miko?" Ranma asks the girl, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Thank you," Miko replies, "I had a great day...daddy." Unfortunately for both Ranma and Miko, Miko didn't bother to keep her voice down either, and everything she had said had clearly carried over to the other side of the sliding door... And with a bang the sliding door flies open revealing the shocked faces of the Tendo and Saotome clans... And at once all of them (saved Kasumi, who put her head in her hands) scream out if as one voice, "WHAT!!!!!" --------------------- End part three (Ha, did it again, didn't I?) --------------------- Authors notes: Thanks to all the fanfiction authors I have read, if it wasn't for you I would have the guts to post this. Thank you to my pre-readers, who have pointed out many of my mistakes. And of course thanks to Rumiko Takahshi, without which I wouldn't have this wonderful series to write about. C&C and even MSTs are welcomed. Please send to trscrogg@unity.ncsu.edu (note: case is important here) Thanks Thomas Scroggs