The Nerima Returners
Volume 1
Part 4: A Rebirth

Hiya! This is the fourth part of my fic, The Nerima Returners. Sorry that 
this took so long but I had writer's block for a bit and a lot of 
schoolwork. Previous parts can be found at my homepage: 
www.angelfire.com/tx/gilliweb

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor do I pretend to. Even if I 
did, the army of lawyers that would come after me would make me change my 
mind.^_^

	Akane soon awoke from her unexpected nap and found herself on her bed in 
her room. Kasumi was sitting on a chair next to her bed reading a book. As 
Akane let out a groan, Kasumi looked up and smiled at her younger sister.
	"Oh, Akane, are you alright?"
	"I... I guess." Akane thought back to when Kasumi told her that Ranma 
didn't change back into a boy. "Th... the shock was just too much I guess."
	"I'm sorry Akane. Maybe I should've waited until later to tell you the 
news."
	"It's not your fault, Kasumi," Akane sighed exasperated. "Come on, we 
shouldn't keep them waiting for us downstairs."
	After Akane and Kasumi sat down at the dining room table, the Saotome and 
Tendo clans, such as they were, began discussing the matter at hand. A new 
name for Ranma.
	Nabiki pondered for a moment as they all began to think about a name to 
suit the new Ranma. She was the first one to speak up. "How about 'Ranko'? 
We've used it on you before," Nabiki said addressing Ranma.
	Nodoka cringed at the suggestion. "I don't particularly like that name 
Nabiki." She thought to all the times that she made her son do feminine 
things while under the guise of Ranko. "It brings back memories I don't 
really care for too much."
	"I don't like it either. It doesn't sound right to me," stated the 
as-so-far nameless girl.
	"Oh my, well I guess it's not an option then," Kasumi smiled as she spoke 
up. "How about 'Ami'?
	Since nobody was really partial to that idea, they kept on suggesting 
names.
	"Miaka?"
	"Sounds to cute."
	"Keiko?"
	"Doesn't suit her."
	It went on like that for a while, with someone suggesting a name and 
another person finding a legitimate excuse not to use it.
	"How about 'Rana'?" Everybody stopped their contemplating. The silence was 
deafening. They all slowly turned their heads to look at the one who had 
suggested the name, Kasumi.
	"Where'd you get that idea from, Kasumi?" Nabiki asked intrigued.
	"Oh my, well, I was thinking that we were going the wrong way here. We were 
avoiding names that even sounded like 'Ranma'. The only reason... Ranma, for 
now I guess, didn't like it was because it's a boys name. So we make a 
slight adjustment to the old name and we have a new one." She had that 
oblivious smile on her face the whole time, as if she'd just been commenting 
on how nice the weather was.
	Everyone was silent as they had no excuse to discard the name. Kasumi had 
reasoned through it too thoroughly. They turned to look at the young 
redhead. If she didn't like the name it would be discarded, but she was 
smiling.
	"I like it," she said. "I really like it."
	"Well, it's settled then, Please welcome Rana Saotome, the newest member of 
the Saotome family."
***************
	It had nearly been a month since they had named Rana, and the girl still 
showed no signs of getting her memory back. Akane felt a lot of hurt because 
of this. She'd been hoping that one day she'd wake up and Kasumi would tell 
her that Ranma had gotten his... her... whatever! memory back. Then she 
could finally admit to Ranma that she lo--. 'Whoa girl. You know that it's 
better not to think like that,' she thought to herself. The funny thing was, 
she couldn't bring herself to hate the girl. She was so innocent and naive. 
It seemed like that even more so since Rana had decided, unofficially to 
live a semi-second childhood since she couldn't remember the first. 'Not 
that Ranma really had much of a childhood,' she thought darkly.
	She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.
	"TAG!"
	"Huh?" As Akane turned around she saw a red-headed girl bounding down the 
hallway. "Get back here!" she yelled half- heartedly as she heard Rana 
giggling as Akane began to give chase. Before long, Akane had to admit that 
she was enjoying the game and let out a laugh of happiness.
	As the game continued, Akane allowed her mind to wander. She thought back 
to all the 'lessons' in memory she had given Rana, in hopes of triggering 
Ranma's memories to return and to prepare her for the life that she would 
lead when all the crazies that lived around Nerima were allowed to... visit. 
The younger girl had taken the first lesson, on Jusenkyo, rather well. 
Slowly, Akane, Nabiki or Kasumi would give her a lesson a day; a lesson 
basically being just one of many of the unbelieveable tales of Ranma's life.
	*"He's dead."*
	The words came out of nowhere and caused Akane to grind to a halt. Rana 
noticed almost immediately and made a U-turn to head back towards Akane.
	"What's wrong, Akane?" Rana gave her friend a quick visual inspection to 
make sure she wasn't hurt. Even though she acted childish at times, she knew 
when it was time to be mature.
	"How did you know?" Akane asked Ranma almost visciously. "How did you know 
Ranma was a boy?"
	"You told me, remember? In our first lesson." She was beginning to think 
Akane was becoming delirious.
	"No, that's not what I meant," Akane hissed, beginning to believe that 
she'd been had. "In the hospitals gym, you said 'He's dead.' You weren't 
supposed to know about him at that point. How did you?"
	Rana began to look uncomfortable at that point when a voice spoke up.
	"I told her."
	Both girls swivelled around to see that the person behind them was--
	"Nabiki! How could you?! We all agreed not to tell her at that point!"
	"I felt that she deserved to know. I mean, who knew who could've shown up 
at any point of time challenging her or being overly affectionate. She 
needed to be prepared somewhat. That way she might of understood some of the 
craziness that could've erupted.
	Akane let out a sigh and said, "I guess you're right." A mischievous glint 
started to reach Akane's eyes. "But you went against the majority in the 
vote, whose side you were on I might add. I've got the perfect punishment 
for you!"
	"Nice try, Akane, but even if I did get punished, it would be by Auntie 
Saotome, not you." Nabiki had her cold business tone in place as she said 
that.
	"I'll go along with Akane's suggestion." Everyone turned around to see 
Nodoka leaning against the door to the outside[1], watching the proceedings 
amusedly.
	"Thank-you, Auntie," Akane began." Now, Nabiki, your punishment is to clear 
Ranma's debt," Nabiki went pale, Ranma had a HUGE tab(even if he sorta 
wasn't around to pay it), "My tab," the middle Tendo started to get dizzy, " 
And the largest tab you have not including mine and Ranma's." That was the 
last straw, Nabiki fainted.
	With a smile on her face, Nodoka walked over. "Very nicely done, Akane. If 
not a bit extreme, but still nicely done. Perhaps I should let you make all 
of the punishments around here." Akane started to look power-happy, so 
Nodoka decided to semi-retract the statement. "Or you could just help me 
make them up." Akane deflated a bit at that.
***************
	That night at the supper table, they discussed the events they knew would 
take place the next day.
	Rana shook her head in disbelief. "I find it unreal that Ranma could 
generate so many enemies and fiancees. It's hard to believe even more that 
you can trace all of his problems back to Genma. Not that Ranma had no part 
in it as well."
	"How do you figure that, Rana?" Nabiki asked, wanting to see what her 
arguments would be.
	"Well, look at it this way. Most of his engagements were due to Genma(she 
wasn't going to call him "Dad" until she met him) selling him for food all 
the time. The two exceptions to that were Akane and Shampoo. He arranged for 
Akane before the two were even born! As for Shampoo, if he hadn't insisted 
on the trip to China they would never have met her. He also wouldn't have 
gotten his curse, which has caused most of the problems with the Kuno's. He 
might still have Kodachi after him but only half the time. Mousse wouldn't 
be after him if it weren't for his engagement to Shampoo. Tsubasa wouldn't 
be after him if not for his engagement to Ukyo. Also, Genma knew that Ryoga 
had a direction problem, so he could've let Ranma stay long enough for Ryoga 
to have his duel. It's not as if they had a boat or plane to catch."
	"You have a point there Rana," Nabiki said as she mentally went over the 
points that Rana had raised.
	"By the way, where is Ryoga?" Akane had decided that it was her turn to 
join in on the conversation.
	"Probably lost, but let's get down to business." Nabiki would point out 
that they'd gotten of topic.
	"Have some cookies while you're at it, though," Kasumi put in, bringing out 
a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
	"Actually, you should hear this too, sis. Akane, I'll let you take it from 
here."
	"Why do I have to do this?" she muttered under her breath. "Anyways, 
tomorrow is the one month anniversary of the day we brought Rana home."
	"Happy Anniversary!"[2]
	"Er... thanks Kasumi. It's also the day the fiancees are allowed to come 
back to see Ranma."
	"Guess we won't be sleeping in tomorrow then," Nabiki put in a bit 
grumpily.
	"Actually," Mrs. Saotome started. "I took care of that." She hands out 
little slips of paper that say:

  To Whom It May Concern
  cc: Ukyou Kuonji, Shampoo, Kodachi Kuno, Tatewaki Kuno[3]
	Due to health reasons, the residents of the Tendo Dojo would like to get a 
good nights sleep. Therefore, we are insisting you do not come to see my 
child until noon. If you choose to ignore this note, you will meet the 
business end of my katana.
	Sincerely yours,
				Nodoka Saotome

	"Mom, are you sure you needed to threaten them with your katana? I'm sure 
they would've listened to reason." Rana's statement was met by the stares of 
disbelief from everyone else in the room.
	"Obviously you have no recollection of the slightest about them, do you?" 
Nabiki asked, breaking the ominous silence that had surrounded them. Rana 
responded with a blank look on her face.
	"Well, children. Since we are done here it's time for bed," Nodoka 
announced.
	"Auntie, don't you think we're a bit old for bedtimes?" Nabiki asked.
	A small smirk played across Nodoka's features as she answered. "I'm making 
up for all the times I didn't get to say it. Now, off to bed!"
	With that said, the four children made their way to bed, all of them 
grumbling except, of course, Kasumi.
***************
	Nabiki lay in bed reading her favorite book, her book of IOU's. She was 
glad that they had finally renamed Ranma. It took a bit of stress off her 
shoulders. It was hard going around trying to avoid calling someone by a 
name you know they don't like.
	"May I come in, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked from the other side of the room's 
door.
	"Sure Kasumi," Nabiki answered, a bit puzzled. Kasumi hardly ever visited 
her in her room.

	Kasumi entered the room, closed the door behind her, and sat down on the 
chair at Nabiki's desk. "I'm not Kasumi, Nabiki."
	Nabiki's eyes went wide as she whispered, "Terra? Is that really you?" To 
say Nabiki was stunned even further when Terra nodded her head to confirm it 
was an understatement. "I thought you weren't coming back until it was time 
for the rest of you group to awaken..." Nabiki trailed off, putting two and 
two together. "You mean..?"
	"No, Nabiki. Not yet. Soon but not yet." Terra ran a hand through �her' 
hair and suddenly looked very exhausted. "You haven't really talked to 
Mauduin much since Ranma showed up, so Father decieded it would be best if I 
told you this."
	"What? Tell me what?" Nabiki asked.
	"Keep Rana safe. Don't let any real harm come to her. She's special, 
somehow. She may even be able to learn spells when the time's right. She 
could be a great asset to the Returners. Right now, though, she can't quite 
take care of herself. So make sure she doesn't get hurt, please." Terra 
turned to leave at that, but Nabiki's voice stopped her.
	"What's wrong, Terra? I understand what you just told me, but you seem so 
sad. Why?" Nabiki wasn't normally gentle to anyone, but this was Terra, the 
woman who had given her a new lease on life.
	"I'm tired Nabiki." Terra said wearily. "Tired of all the fighting I had to 
do on my world. I never really wanted to fight, but I, being half Esper, was 
their only hope. When our world was �destroyed' I found joy taking care of 
the children that were orphaned in a town called Mobliz. Then I had to help 
fight again!" Her voice started to rise in volume now. "When it was almost 
over, we were about to die! So I opened the gateway to send us here! Now 
we'll be fighting again soon, and probably having more innocents like Rana 
joining our cause! It's not fair to them! But most importantly the reason 
I'm sad, upset, and tired is," she stopped suddenly as if realizing that 
saying the next bit would give to much away.
	"What is it Terra? What's hurting you this much?" Nabiki was on edge now. 
Never had she seen Terra this uptight before.
	"I still don't know what it's like to feel love," Terra admitted in a 
whisper so quiet that Nabiki barely heard it.[4]
	"I'm sorry." It was inadequate, but it was all Nabiki could think of to 
say.
	"It's alright," Terra said with a sad smile that seemed strangely out of 
place on Kasumi's face. "I'll be leaving now." And so, putting actions to 
words, she left. Nabiki was left with a lot to think about.

End Part 4.
Next time: Part 5- Chaos Errupts

[1]They couldn't play tag inside now could they?^_^
[2]If Kasumi can say "Bye bye Birdy!" to the phoenix, then she can say 
"Happy Anniversary" here.^_^
[3]My thanks to the TydRipper here for the idea!
[4]Terra doesn't realise what love is until AFTER they defeat Kefka.

Author's Notes: Well, that's the end of this part. The next one definitely 
won't be coming out until at least sometime near the end of June due to a 
school trip and exams. Any C&C, flames, death threats, etc., are welcome. It 
doesn't matter whether or not they are sent publically or privately.

-Jade Dixon, jadzia42@hotmail.com
-www.angelfire.com/tx/gilliweb <-- My Homepage^_^
-Fate protects fools, little children and ships named 'Enterprise'.
                                      -Commander Riker, Contagion.
-Ryouga's not that bad, he's just misguided.
               -Accidental pun by a friend.



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