Chapter 4: Hints of the past...
	By the end of the school day Ranma had had to leave Akane behind. Actually
Akane was busy chatting with her new friends, trading gossip and learning
more about the ins and outs of Furinkan. As with any new place there was so
much she had to learn, and she wanted to learn it as soon as possible. 
	So it was Kodachi and Ranma flanking Nabiki as she opened her locker...
inside, as she expected, was a small neatly folded letter on stationery.
Kodachi's mouth quirked slightly as she saw the particular paper... it was
one she recognized... 
	"Is that it?" Ranma asked.
	Nabiki nodded, a slight blush and a faint happy smile on her face that she
hadn't even realized was there. "He still hasn't forgotten me."
	Kodachi smiled gently at Nabiki, "Would you mind if we see it after you?"
	Nabiki blushed deeply, "I... well... no one else knows about these...
except Kasumi..." she frowned slightly, "And if either of you tell anyone
else, I'll kill you."
	Ranma gulped and nodded, "Sure, no problem."
	Kodachi gave Ranma an approving nod, "Your secret is safe."
	Nabiki looked around to make certain no one else was nearby, before she
unfolded the paper. It read, 

My dearest Nabiki, 

	I witnessed the unfortunate spectacle this morning. I am not dismayed.
Only through trickery could he have won, and in my eyes you are still
unbowed. This changes nothing of my feelings for you. You are still my
sweetest rose, my dearest heart, nothing could change that. I apologize for
the brevity of yesterday's note, but with all of the events of the previous
day, I found difficulty finding the time and a good locale to set brush to
paper, most especially with the sprinklers going on full blast, but I
endure despite and still. 
	All my love is yours. All my heart.

	Nabiki sighed happily closing her eyes, "Now THAT is a man..." she moaned
softly.
	Kodachi read over Nabiki's shoulder, "Wow... this guy really likes you
Nabiki..."
	Ranma winced as he read it, "Girls like this stuff?"
	Kodachi rolled her eyes, "Yes, Ranma..."
	Nabiki nodded to them, "Remember, it's our secret, okay?"
	Kodachi and Ranma nodded. Nabiki gave a satisfied grin, slipping the note
into her pocket, "Well, let's pick up Akane and head home Ranma..."
	"Sure thing, sis."
	"Ahh... Nabiki, wait, Ranma promised to walk me home, right, Ranma?"
Kodachi smiled at him meaningfully.
	Ranma stared back at Kodachi puzzled. He'd promised no such thing... "But..."
	"Right?" Kodachi asked again with emphasis, her eyes speaking volumes
which, unfortunately, Ranma wasn't reading.
	"Er... sure... heh." Ranma smiled sheepishly. He allowed himself to
indulge idly in the thought that Kodachi wanted to spend more time with
him... he blushed somewhat. Kodachi looked at his blush with confusion...
before noticing the intent and yet hesitant look he was giving her, before
she also blushed.
	Nabiki smiled at the two of them, "Well, it definitely doesn't look like
there are going to be any complaints from you two if Tatewaki and I don't
go through with the engagement."
	Ranma glanced at Kodachi, their blushes worsening, "Not really," Kodachi
replied, "You take care, Nabiki."
	"You too," Nabiki replied, waving to them as they walked off, "Don't take
too long, though Ranma, I think Kasumi is cooking sukiyaki tonight."
	Ranma walked quickly to keep up with Kodachi, who currently had her arm
intertwined with his. Admittedly this drew some comment from the
rumormongers, but not as much as the titillation afforded by the entire
Nabiki/Kuno engagement.
	"What?" Ranma finally managed to say once they were out of Nabiki's earshot.
	Kodachi whispered to Ranma, "I think I know who her secret admirer is!"
	"Wha..? How? Who?"
	"I know that stationery... and I recognized the handwriting, not to
mention the style... and it's rather obvious if she ever really thought
about it, but I guess she didn't. And he's in her class too... it all fits!"
	"Really? Who is it?"
	"I... maybe I shouldn't say. Not until I'm sure." Kodachi said finally.
	"Er... right. So why grab me?"
	"I do want to tell you, but it sounds so ridiculous I want to make sure
first," Kodachi glanced up at the clock face, "Oh, I just remembered, I
have gymnastics practice in a while!" 
	"Does that mean, I can't walk you home? Should I head after Nabiki?" Ranma
asked, a little disappointed.
	She looked torn, "Well..."
	"I can wait for you if you want." Ranma offered.
	"You wouldn't mind?"
	"No prob, honest."
	Kodachi smiled sweetly at him, "Thanks."
	"Anytime," Ranma grinned.
	They walked in silence towards the gym, still holding hands.
	Kodachi suddenly asked, "You know... you never did tell me why you
disappeared six years ago."
	"Hmm?" 
	"You know..." Kodachi prodded, "Mom and dad said you and Akane had run off
on a training journey by yourselves, but that sounded really strange. I
want to hear it from you.
	Ranma sighed, "Well... you do know I'm adopted right?"
	Kodachi turned to stare at him, "You... you are?"
	Ranma turned to look at her in surprise, "You didn't know? I thought you
did."
	"First I've heard of it," Kodachi sniffed, "Didn't think I was important
enough to tell it to?"
	"I guess it just never came up." Ranma said weakly, "I mean it's not
exactly something you mention right off the bat."
	"I guess..." she conceded, "So you were an orphan?"
	"I don't really know," Ranma said sadly, "The first really clear memory I
have is..." he bit his lower lip uncertainly, "This is kinda unpleasant to
talk about, maybe I should skip that..."
	Kodachi pressed him, "Come on. You can tell me. We always used to be able
to tell each other everything, right?"
	"Okay... well, the first thing I remember really clearly was rooting
through the Tendo's garbage."
	Kodachi blinked as Ranma continued, "I think I'd been living on the
streets for a while already... and it was one of those things I did to
survive."
	"How old were you then?" Kodachi asked sympathetically.
	"Around six or so," he replied, "Anyway... one minute I'm thinking to
myself I'd gotten a bonanza cause there was some unfinished sushi in a
carton and the next thing I know, there's this girl challenging me for
rooting through their garbage."
	"Challenged you?" Kodachi asked incredulously, "Who was it? Nabiki?"
	Ranma chuckled slightly at the memory, "No... it was Akane. She used to
have a pretty nasty temper back then... and she's just finished training
with dad... so there I was, leftover sushi in my mouth, and there's Akane
in her gi and doing a stance. Dad stepped out after a couple of minutes,
and I was sitting on Akane's head, eating the rest of the leftovers."
	Kodachi listened intently, her hand squeezing his gently as they walked.
	"Turns out dad had been watching the whole thing and he was very impressed
by my performance," Ranma smiled a little, "He invited me into the dojo for
a while... mom cleaned us both up and dad started asking questions."
	Ranma sighed, "Thing was, I couldn't remember anything about my family or
anything... Anyway, this was before your dad started training in Anything
Goes... so I guess I'm not sure if it was because mom felt sorry for me and
wanted a son, or if it was because dad decided I had a lot of potential and
could possibly be his heir... but they decided to adopt me. I didn't know
what my name was, so Dad kinda decreed that I'd be named in honor of the
son of a friend of his who'd died a while back."
	Kodachi nodded quietly, "I didn't realize. You must've had a rough time
before finding the Tendo dojo."
	Ranma looked distant for a moment, "I can sorta vaguely recall sleeping in
alleys and being hungry all the time..."
	"So what did this have to do with your running away?" she asked gently.
	"A couple of years after mom died, when Akane and I were ten, I sort of
started wondering what my parents were like. You know, my biological
ones... so I decided to run away and find out who they were."
	Kodachi looked surprised, "Weren't you happy with Mr. Tendo and your
sisters?"
	"Oh I was... I was very happy. But I really, really had to know... it's
hard to explain what its like... Dad wanted to groom me to be his successor
and all, and here I was I wasn't even sure about who I really was, so it's
all kinda... you know."
	Kodachi squeezed his hand sympathetically once more moving closer, "It's
alright... you don't have to say any more if you don't want to."
	Ranma smiled fondly at Kodachi, "No... I do want you to know. In any case,
there's not much more to tell... I was sneaking out of the house when Akane
caught me."
	"Oh my..."
	"Yeah," Ranma looked happy at the memory, "She chewed me out about my
stupid idea, then decided to come along, since she was sure I wouldn't be
able to take care of myself outside... so we went off... and now we're back."
	"Did you find out anything?" Kodachi asked.
	"Nothing. All dead ends. We were all over Japan... most of the major
cities... we even followed a lead all the way to China, that didn't work
out at all."
	"How did you two afford to go to China?" Kodachi asked.
	"We hitched a ride on a ship," Ranma grinned.
	"Wow."
	"Hey, here's the gym," Ranma said glancing up at the doors.
	"I'll be about an hour..." Kodachi looked at Ranma for a moment, her eyes
thoughtful, "Would..." she blushed, "Would you like to watch me practice?"
	Ranma nodded, "Sure."
	Kodachi smiled at him and pulled him into the gym. On the floor, was the
rest of the gymnastics team already practicing. The numerous girls, all
turned their attention on Ranma who could do nothing but smile sheepishly,
and hide behind Kodachi.
	Kodachi turned to Ranma, "Better let my hand go now, Ran-chan... I still
need to change into my leotard."
	"A... a leotard?" Ranma asked hesitantly.
	"Well you don't think I'm going to do gymnastics in a skirt do you? You
just sit down and watch." She winked playfully at him, her hand slipping
out of his.
	Ranma smiled nervously and sat down on the floor as she ran off in the
direction of the girl's changing room. He glanced towards the other members
of the girl's gym team and noticed with some concern that their full
attention had been turned on him. And they were all... smiling... and
talking to one another. For some reason he couldn't define... This worried
him even more than coming home did.
- - -
	Kodachi hummed happily as she walked around the garden, waiting for
dinner. It had been a remarkably lovely day and it was ending fairly well,
or so she though.
	Without her realizing it, she'd plucked one of the flowers and was in the
process of plucking its petals, complete with matching 'He loves me/loves
me not'.
	She caught herself doing it, but not before she'd plucked the last petal
on an 'He loves me'. She blinked in surprise at her own behavior and was
about to step into the house when her stepmother found her.
	"Ko-chan... is that you?" Nodoka asked, stepping out into the garden.
	"Over here, mama." Kodachi called out, guiltily hiding the stem behind her.
	Nodoka smiled gently at Kodachi as she came closer. Despite the weak
light, the scattered rose petals were rather hard to miss, "How are you,
Ko-chan?"
	"I'm fine, mama." Kodachi smiled back.
	"I heard from Sasuke that a young man walked you home..." Nodoka smiled
playfully.
	"Oh... that was just Ranma, mama..." Kodachi blushed.
	Her stepmother laughed, "Just Ranma, you say..?"
	"Um... yes..."
	"You two seem to be getting along well..." Nodoka remarked.
	"Oh... well... we're old friends... and we haven't seen each other in so
long... so it's only natural we'd want to catch up, right?" Kodachi
answered uncomfortably.
	"Nothing more?" Nodoka prodded gently.
	"N... no... of course not..." Kodachi lied, blushing furiously.
	Nodoka looked thoughtful, "Pity... I was going to see if I could persuade
your father and Soun to give up on Nabiki and Tatewaki... it only seems to
be aggravating the two of them... I do not want either of them getting
hurt... and you and Ranma seem to be getting along so well..."
	Kodachi looked at her stepmother in surprise, then replied, "Um... perhaps
you shouldn't, mama..."
	"Why not?"
	"Well... I know it may not look like it at all... but I think they like
each other..."
	Nodoka looked incredulously at Kodachi, "Honestly?"
	Kodachi nodded in reply, "Yes... I really think so. And if you just give
them a little time to realize it, everything will be fine... but unless
this thing sort of forces them together, I don't think they're going to
work it out."	Nodoka smiled, "I see... but if you think that there's any
chance for your brother and Nabiki... well, alright."
	Kodachi nodded to her mother, "Mama... I'm curious... why DID Papa keep
you from knowing about the engagement?"
	"Oh... that..." Nodoka looked thoughtful and sighed, "Before I married
your father... I was married to someone else..."
	Kodachi looked at her stepmother, "You never mentioned that before..."
	"It never really came up before," Nodoka smiled, "Regardless... he was a
martial artist too... like your father is now... it's a little difficult to
talk about..." she looked off into the distance, a tear evident out of the
corner of one eye...
	Kodachi put an arm around her stepmother's shoulders, "It's okay mama...
you don't need to tell me..."
	Nodoka smiled weakly at her daughter, "Thank you, Ko-chan... but rest
assured, if I'd known about this entire matter beforehand, I never would've
allowed your father or Soun to go through with it."
	Kodachi simply nodded quietly and hugged her stepmother.
- - -	
	"I'm home!" Ranma called out as he stepped into the house.
	There was no response. Slightly worried, he wandered a bit, listening for
people. It was already past eight and he was worried that perhaps people
would be worried about him... it had occured to him a little late that
perhaps he should have called, but since it only occurred to him when he'd
taken his shoes off at the threshold, the point was somewhat moot.
	He could hear the television in the living room... it sounded a bit like
one of those trendy drama things Akane liked. He poked his head around the
corner and called out, "Um... I'm home."
	The lights were off and the only illumination was coming from the
television which was showing the opening credits to 'Summer Love Contract',
one of Akane's favorites.
	Akane glanced over her shoulder at him, "It's about time," she said flatly.
	"Sorry... I kind of lost track of time. Where is everyone else?"
	"Kasumi had a date... father apparently has some sort of local business
organization meeting and Nabiki's out back in the dojo, as usual." Akane
muttered, turning her attention back to the TV.
	Ranma glanced at her, he jumped over the sofa, landing next to her,
"You're upset."
	She glared at him, "Oh, you think so? Where were you?" she snapped the
question out.
	"Um... I was with Kodachi..."
	"And you couldn't find a phone?" she said nastily, "I've been worried sick
about you!"
	"Come on Akane..." Ranma said in a patient tone, "It's not like when we
were on the road... we're home! It's safe here... I know how to take care
of myself and I'm not a child, you know."
	Akane hmphed, turning away from him and crossing her arms, "Well if you
don't need me anymore, that's fine."
	"Oh come on, you know that's not going to happen..." Ranma said quietly,
putting his arms around her.
	Akane relented a little, melting into his arms. She sighed, "Alright...
you know I can't stay mad at you for long... but next time, make sure you
call alright?"
	"Sure thing." Ranma murmured. 
	Akane grinned a little, snuggling closer against Ranma, "So how are you
getting along with Kodachi?"
	"Mmm... not bad..."
	"Meaning you're getting along pretty good, huh?" Akane teased.
	"Okay, we are," Ranma admitted with a small smile.
	A slight cross look passed across Akane's features, "Really... I guess you
two MUST be getting along well if you're willing to leave me behind to
spend time with her."
	Ranma stiffened, "Erhm... yeah... sorry about that..."
	Akane sniffed lightly, "I guess I'm just your sister after all... nobody
important..."
	"Hey... where'd that come from?" Ranma demanded feeling a bit put upon by
Akane's mood.
	"Nothing... nothing..." Akane said airily, snuggling a little more against
Ranma.
	"You're jealous, aren't you?" Ranma asked quietly, holding her closer.
	"Of course not!" Akane turned in his embrace to glare at him.
	Ranma looked mildly back at her.
	Akane deflated slightly, "Okay... a little."
	"Awww..." Ranma leaned over, kissing her forehead gently, "You know we
can't spend all our time together..."
	"Yeah, but... I don't know... it looks like you enjoy being with her more
than me," Akane replied weakly.
	"Hey... none of that, Akane-chan!" Ranma smiled playfully, "You know I
love being with you... and nobody's going to replace you. Ever."
	Akane smiled a little, "I guess I was being a little stupid," as she
wrapped her arms around his neck.
	"Yup, you were." Ranma replied fondly. 
	Akane grinned playfully, "So when you're cuddling up with her, will you be
thinking of me?"	
	"I dunno... she's kinda better built for cuddling than you are... you're
too bony and flat-chested..." Ranma grinned.
	"Bony! Flat-chested!" Akane said in mock outrage, "You don't complain in
bed! You take that back or I'm going to show you bony where it really hurts!"
	"Peace! Peace! Okay, I give up! I take it back!" Ranma laughed, making
surrendering gestures. Akane gave him a look of mock exasperation, before,
ruffling his hair and turning her back to him to watch the TV again.
	Ranma stared blankly into space for a few moments then laughed suddenly.
	"What?" Akane asked, turning around in his arms again.
	"No, it's just that I was remembering something... remember when you were
dating Ryouga?"
	Akane looked thoughtful, then her eyes lit up in remembrance, "You were
acting just as jealous!"
	Ranma laughed, "Almost exactly the same..."
	Akane grinned playfully at him, "Remember what you did to apologize to me
afterwards?"
	Ranma lifted an eyebrow as Akane nodded, moving closer against him,
"Yes... you do remember, don't you brother-dear? Since I'm the jealous
party this time, I guess I'd better apologize."
	"Sounds good to me, Akane-chan..." Ranma replied, licking his lips slightly.	
	 There was a sudden strangled exclamation.
	The two turned to see Nabiki, silhouetted by the light, "Er... I'll...
um... just go on upstairs... you look like you two want some privacy..."
she choked.
	Akane grinned at Nabiki playfully, "How long have you been standing there?"
	"Um... not very..."
	"Long enough, though, huh?" Akane chuckled, "Hey... you might want to join
Ranma, I'm going to be giving him plenty, there'll be enough left over for
you..." 
	Nabiki blurted, "Er... no! No... but thanks... I'll be upstairs... don't
mind me..." she added in a mumble, "Um... try not to make too much noise..."
	Ranma looked confused, "Noise..? Why would there be noise..."
	He and Akane only then glanced at their positions, realizing that Akane
was all but straddling Ranma's lap and they were holding each other rather
closely... Nabiki shuddered a bit and ducked around the corner.
	Ranma looked at Akane, "You know we're totally freaking her out don't you?
She probably thinks we're a pair of perverts."
	Akane laughed, "I know I shouldn't, but she's so much fun..."
	Ranma sighed.
	"So what flavor do you want your ice cream?" Akane smiled.
	"Same flavor I gave you when I apologized," Ranma replied.
	"Chocolate marble it is, then." Akane grinned, leaning down to kiss Ranma
quickly on the lips before turning to watch the TV, "I'll buy you some
tomorrow."
	Ranma smiled as Akane made herself more comfortable on his lap. It took
him a moment to realize something... "Hey, I hate soap operas! Why do I
have to watch this?!"
- - -


=====
TimeRunner's Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482

icq: 7153134 (Keiichi)
=====

"The story grew in the most convoluted way, as many people will be
surprised to learn. Writing episodically meant that when I finished one
episode I had no idea about what the next one would contain. When, in the
twists and turns of the plot, some event su
ddenly seemed to illuminate things that had gone before, I was as surprised
as anyone else."

--- Douglas Adams, "A Guide to the Guide"

"Mos people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They
want to HAVE BEEN  writers."

--- James A. Michener