PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
How to Love Another
Part Two: A Matter of Perspective 
Warning: This fic contains some mature subject matter, reader discretion
is advised.  

	Ranma tapped his foot impatiently against the carpet as he waited for
someone to pick up the phone at home.  Finally, Kasumi answered.  "Tendo
Dojo, Kasumi speaking." she stated.
	"Kasumi, it's Ranma."
	"Oh, Ranma!  Where are you?  Everyone is wondering where you were
today." she said quickly, sounding particularly concerned.
	Ranma frowned, trying to think of what to say next.  If he gave too
much information he would have everyone he knew at Aiko's door in five
minutes.  If he didn't give enough people would worry about him.  He
sighed lightly, then inhaled, "I'm at a friends house... he got hurt
today and I'm helping take care of him."
	Silence answered him for a few moments.  "Oh... do you want me to come
over and help?"
	"Um, no!" he replied, possibly a little too hastily, "I can take care
of it, you have a house to run as it is."  He slowed down a bit and
smiled into the receiver, "Thanks for offering all the same, Kasumi."
	"It's okay, Ranma.  How long do you suppose you'll be?"
	He looked at the staircase briefly, then realized he had no idea just
when Aiko's mother would return.  "I'm not sure... until his mother gets
back from work.  Could be late, so don't wait up for me."
	"Well, alright.  I'll make sure everyone knows."
	"Thanks, Kasumi.  Later."  He placed the phone back on the hook with a
light ding from the bell.  He stood by the table in the downstairs
hallway for a minute, breathing steadily.  Even a minor slipup could
have spelled disaster for Aiko and possibly her house.  He wasn't used
to paying such close attention to what he was saying, and it had taken a
lot out of him.  He began to walk toward the kitchen, glancing around
the hall.  
	Pictures of Aiko, and what he assumed was her family adorned the light
blue walls.  The young Aiko was even cuter than the current one.  She
had a fire in her that hadn't even flickered since the pictures were
taken.  Going by just the eyes alone, he wouldn't be able to discern
between a photo of her today, and one of ten years ago.  To her left in
most of the pictures was he mother, he was sure of that.  She had almost
the same look in her eyes, and the resemblance was striking.  To her
right stood what must be her father.  He was shorter than her mother,
but proud just the same.  He smiled as his hand rested on his daughter's
shoulder, his other arm draped across his wife's.  A string of such
family pictures made almost a straight line down the hall, chronicling
Aiko's family throughout the years.
	Then, Ranma stopped.  He stared at a more recent picture, almost
completely like the ones before.  The difference was, the father was
missing.  She must have been about thirteen or so when the picture was
taken.  He looked back at the previous photo, then back at the newer
one.  The pose was nearly the same, and just the father missing stuck
out.  This made the fact more glaringly obvious.  After looking at the
picture for a few more moments, he continued on.  The rest of the frames
held similar pictures as the first altered one, except in each one the
couple grew older.  Near the end of the hall the row stopped, with a
picture of Aiko and her mother, Aiko looking as she did at that moment.  
	He made it to the end of the hallway, and a shiver ran up his spine. 
He couldn't help but think superstitiously of what would happen when the
pictures reached the threshold of the door into the kitchen.  It was as
if breaking the line would be disastrous.  Ranma laughed and shook his
head.  Something told him he shouldn't be so worried over something so
stupid as running out of wall space.  
	He entered the kitchen and searched for a glass.  After three
cupboards, all containing various normal items, he reached the one
holding what he needed.  He picked a large one out and filled it with
ice from the freezer.  Lastly, he went to the sink and covered the ice
with water.  As an afterthought he dug out another glass for himself and
repeated the ritual.  With the two dripping glasses in hand, he went
back upstairs.  
	Aiko was sitting up in bed, reading from a manga she had picked up from
beside her bed.  She looked up and smiled as he entered the room, making
him feel warm inside for a reason he couldn't describe.  He handed her
the glass and she thanked him with an even larger smile.  "How are you
feeling?" he asked, looking down at her leg, which was covered in a
light cast from the knee down.
	"I'm okay, nothing hurts anyway." she replied, also looking at her
leg.  After a second of silence she glanced up at him again.  "Want to
sign it?"
	Ranma startled, "Huh?"
	She giggled and poked him in the nose.  "Sometimes, you are a quick
one."  She laughed out loud as he took on an indignant air.  Then she
pointed to her cast, "Sign it, manservant!" she ordered in an
exaggerated manner.  
	Ranma sighed, "Yes, ma'am."  He looked at the nightstand, on which
earlier he had noticed a cup of pens.  A larger permanent marker was
amongst them.  He picked it out and removed the cap.  
	"Here," Aiko began, with a bit of mischief in her voice, "this ought to
make it easier."  She turned, leaning up against the wall, and bent her
leg upward, resting her hands on her knee.  She put her chin on her
hands and grinned at him.  
	Ranma furrowed his brow, about to complain that it did not make it
easier.  His handwriting was bad enough, he didn't need the added
difficulty of writing on a vertical surface.  Unfortunately, just as his
mouth opened, he noticed what sitting in her position does to the skirt
of a girl's school uniform.  His mouth stopped in its fully open and
locked position, but no sound crossed his lips.  Instead, all the air
expelled itself from his lungs, and his eyes noticeably widened.  His
hands began to shake ever so slightly, and he found himself frozen,
unable to move forward.
	"What's wrong?" Aiko asked with a small smile, "Aren't you going to do
it?"
	The spoken word broke Ranma's trance, and he closed his mouth which had
become dry all of the sudden.  He blinked, painfully bringing his eyes
up to her own.  He nodded and leaned forward.  As hard as he tried, he
couldn't help but glance over to the blue satin cloth that peeked at him
from between her legs.  He had seen women naked before, himself
included.  He had even seen women in lingerie countless times, much to
his consternation, himself included.  He hadn't, however, seen such a
subliminal display of erotic posing in person before, and he found it
was an entirely different story all together.  He bared his teeth and
attacked with the marker.  He wouldn't let any distraction, even such a
good one, get in the way of what Aiko wanted.  He stopped, in mid-"ma"
as he thought the last thought.  Thinking of what Aiko "wanted" had not
done good things for his concentration.  In fact, the tail of the "ma"
extended a good inch farther than it should, and looked something like
an EKG during a fibrillation.  
	"Well," Aiko commented, looking at his work, "I've never seen it
written quite like that...  but I suppose it's your signature."
	"Uh, yeah," he muttered, blushing slightly as he finished.  He placed
the cap back on the marker and put it back into its cup.  He looked up
at her again and smiled, "There you go."  
	She looked down at the sloppy mess that now marked her leg, and
smiled.  "Looks like a mad hen attacked my cast." 
	Ranma grumbled, "Ah, shut up... I can't help it if my writing stinks."
	Aiko just smiled at him some more, which he found he was getting used
to.  Before he could reply however, the front door opened and closed.  A
cry from below came up the stairs, "Aiko-chan!  I'm here!"
	Aiko looked out her open door and moved back into her original
position.  A look of disappointment briefly played across her features,
but was soon returned to the normal smile.  "Mother!  Come up here,
please!"  
	Ranma, in the space of a second, became nervous anew.  For some reason
he didn't want to meet Aiko's mother yet.  As if he thought they would
be engaged as soon as she laid eyes on him.  He settled down again and
berated himself; he had to stop thinking like he was at the Tendo
house.  
	A woman came around the corner from the hallway, looking for all the
world like an older, slightly taller version of Aiko herself.  Ranma
stood up to greet her properly.  She stopped and stared at Ranma a
moment, then looked to Aiko.  Her face instantly turned to one of worry
and concern.  "Aiko-chan!" she cried, "What happened?"  She seemed to
forget about Ranma, and rushed over to her daughter's bedside.  She
examined the leg and cast as if searching for any tiny error in the
binding.  "Did it happen at school?  Who helped you?"  The mother seemed
a torrent of emotions and questions as she fiddled with various bindings
and bandages on Aiko, who was beginning to turn red. 
	Just as the mother was about to pull her skirt off to make her more
comfortable, she yelled, "Stop it, mother!"  As her mother froze she
smoothed out her skirt and breathed steadily, "We have company."  She
looked pointedly at Ranma, who was feeling entirely out of place.
	Aiko's mother turned and stared at Ranma for the second time.  "Oh,
hello, young man.  To what do I owe this honor?"  She looked down at
Aiko's prone position, which was largely her own fault, and back to him,
"Did you screw my daughter?"
	Ranma took a step backward, his eyes registering the shock he felt. 
The woman had just asked him if he'd violated her daughter with
absolutely no emotion whatsoever.  "Uh... um... eh..." was all he could
manage to stutter out.
	"No, he didn't, mother." Aiko helpfully answered.  "He is the one who
took me to the doctor and helped me here at home."
	Aiko's mother smiled, "Oh, that's okay then."  She bowed formally,
"Welcome to my home, my name is July..."  She waved a hand in Aiko's
direction.  "And this is my daughter, Aiko."
	The first thought through Ranma's mind was, "July?"  The second he
vocalized, "Um, I know Aiko's name."
	July frowned, "Of course you do, you just said it."  She shook her head
and muttered, "Kids these days," and walked out of the room.
	Ranma stared after July with an amazingly large sweatdrop dangling from
the back of his head.  He turned to Aiko slowly, who had the decency to
look embarrassed, and asked, "What was that all about?"
	Aiko looked at her cast for a moment, then back up to Ranma.  "Well, to
make a long story short, my mother hasn't been quite... right, since
father left."
	Ranma pulled the chair from Aiko's desk and sat next to her bed.  "What
happened?"
	She sighed and looked out the window.  "My family used to be normal...
we used to make time for each other, and go out for picnics... usual
stuff."  She paused, glancing back at Ranma briefly, then turning back
to the window.  "Then, about three years ago, my father up and left.  I
heard a big argument the night before, but didn't think too much of it
at the time.  Next day, he was gone.  No letter, no message of any
kind."  
	"How could he just disappear like that?" Ranma asked.
	Aiko laughed lightly.  "That's what we'd like to know.  No one he knew
was able to tell us where he went.  However, it seemed they really
didn't know, as opposed to not telling us by choice."  Her tone lowered
and she stared into Ranma's eyes directly.  "My mother became obsessed,
she needed to find him.  She wouldn't let it go... for months she
searched, and found no trace.  Nothing went by her, and... and..."  Her
words choked up for a moment.  She coughed and, waving away the water
Ranma offered her with a small smile, continued, "She slowly but surely
went off the deep end.  I couldn't stop her, and no one I went to could
help me.  She seems perfectly normal, if not just a little eccentric
outside the house.  It's when she's here, where the memories are
strongest I suppose, that she really looses it."
	Ranma furrowed his brow.  He had never really known someone with a true
mental problem that so adversely effected someone so... innocent, for
want of a better word.  He knew the Kunos, but they seemed like they
were always nuts, and they didn't really bother anyone other than
himself and Akane, and they could take care of them.  Aiko's mother, on
the other hand, was having a devastating effect on her daughter.  Ranma
found he didn't like that one bit, and the fact that it was Aiko just
compounded the Injury.  "Why don't you go and bring a specialist back
here?" he ventured.  
	"No!" Aiko burst out, making Ranma flinch.  She calmed herself and laid
a hand on his arm.  "Thank you, for everything... but she's still my
mother, and I love her.  I don't want someone to take her away.  She
truly is harmless... she just forgets things, and confuses things once
and a while."
	Ranma put his hand over hers and smiled.  "Okay, I won't say anything."
	Aiko looked down at his hand.  "Ranma?"
	"Yeah?"
	She pulled her hand from under his.  "Nothing..." she whispered
pensively.  "Are you going to go now?" she asked after a moment of
silence.
	Ranma looked out the window to see the sun setting on the horizon. 
"Yeah, I guess I should, before my family thinks... well, I don't want
to know what they could think."  He laughed lightly and rose from the
chair, then placed it back at the desk.  He looked at Aiko again, noting
how disheveled she was due to her mother's administrations.  "Need
anything else?" he asked.
	She shook her head.  "I'm okay, and my mother can take care of anything
else I need."  She looked thoughtful for a moment, then added, "On
second thought, come here."
	He went over to her curiously.  He gasped as she threw her arms around
his waist and held him close to herself.  He instinctively put his arms
around her in return, though he felt uncomfortable for some reason.  As
if he just wasn't used to that sort of contact with another person,
which was probably true when he thought about it.  It worried him that
he had almost no emotional development when it came to feelings of love
and adoration.  However, he did know the signs, and Aiko was feeling
one, or both, of those feelings for him.  What bothered him... or
perhaps it didn't... was that he couldn't say he didn't return the
feelings.  Not that he would say it or anything, it was just that he
wasn't sure if he could outright deny it anymore.  He held her a little
tighter and relished in the feeling of that particular moment.  
	When they separated, Aiko laid back on the bed with a sigh, and an
enormously content smile alight on her face.  Ranma was happy she was
comfortable, and secretly ecstatic that it was himself that caused it. 
He said a final farewell for the evening and left.  When he walked out
of the house and around the corner, he stopped and glanced up at Aiko's
window.  The lights in the room were now off.  She must have been
exhausted by the day's events.  However, he could swear he saw a
silhouette in the darkness.  After staring for a moment longer he began
the journey home.  
END PART TWO
Ah, another part completed, ahead of schedule no less!  Send any
comments and criticism to me, please... as, believe me, such
encouragement does hasten the writing of the fic.  I may actually get
another part completed before the weekend, but don't let that stop you
from sending C&C on this part.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (5-12-98)