Epiphany

A Ranma 1/2 Fan fiction.
By Tripolar Disorder and Dragon Dagger

We do not own the characters from Ranma, nor do we want them.
We just wish to borrow their likenesses to present another view
on the Ranma story.  So please don't sue us.

****************************************************************

She was walking down the street, clutching her bundle.  Her
heart was barely holding itself within her chest.  Though she
wished to run, her Kimono and her pride prevented her from doing
so.

Nodoka stopped in from of the Tendo home.  She had been informed
that her son and husband were back from their training journey.
Ten years ago she had agreed to allow Genma to take Ranma to
teach him the art.  Ten years she had spent alone, wondering if
either of them would ever return.

She called to the house.  Kasumi opened the gate and recognized
her immediately.  Nodoka noticed that Kasumi had been crying.

"Auntie Nodoka." she exclaimed.

Nodoka was about to bow, when Kasumi wrapped her arms around
and began to cry on her shoulder.  She did not understand what
was happening.  Kasumi was too distraught, so Nodoka shut the
gate behind them, and walked Kasumi into the house.

Nodoka noticed the obvious state of the family room.  Kasumi
must have been in terrible shape.  Her normal absolute tidiness
had given way to piles of tissues.  Nodoka also was tackled by
a crying Akane not three steps into the room.

Now trying to comfort both girls, both still too out of it to
explain why they were crying.  She sat down on the couch and let
them continue on her shoulders.

<They are much like their father. > Nodoka thought to herself.
She sat and tried to hug each girl, a task along the lines of
juggling.  She was hoping that Soun would come home and help
straighten the girls out.  They were acting as though someone
had died.

After a minute Nabiki appeared in the hall.  She looked up and
saw that Nabiki's normally expressionless face, too was showing
the signs of tears.

"Where is your father dear?  Why have..."  The words stopped
dead in her throat.  She looked toward Nabiki, and the girl
nodded.

"When..." was the only thing she could say.

Nabiki wiped her eyes, and sniffled.  "This morning.  Dad and
Mr. Saotome got into an accident."

Nodoka motioned for Nabiki to come over and join them.  She then
added another, to the quivering, crying mass.

Akane was the first to calm down.  She told Nodoka that the two
fathers had been out drinking, and then tried to walk back.

Nodoka nodded.  Knowing how drunk those two got, even walking
was dangerous.

Akane then told them that the police called them about an hour
ago.  They had fished the bodies of both men from the canal.

Nodoka felt tears coming to her own eyes.  Genma was lost.  As
much as she wanted to cry herself, she knew that the girls
needed her strength at the moment.

"Where is Ranma?"  She asked.

A voice from the hall turned her head.  "I'm here Mother."

Her eyes focused on the figure.  She recognized it as Ranko,
the Tendo's tomboyish cousin with the pet panda.

"What did you say Ranko?" Nodoka was a bit confused.

Ranko took a unsteady step forward.  "My name ain't Ranko,
mother, It's Ranma."

With that, Nodoka passed out.

****************************************************************

As Nodoka started to come to she first realized that she was
lying down and there were several soft voices about her talking.
Remembering a little of what had happened in the moments before
she lost consciousness she very slowly brought herself about and
looked up at the Tendo Girls and the girl that called herself
Ranma.

"Ranko?  I thought I heard you say that you were my son
Ranma..."  She trailed off as Nabiki came out of the kitchen
with a pot of hot water and poured it over the Saotome scion's
head turning her from the redheaded girl into a taller, well
built young man.

"I wanted to tell ya mom.  I'm Ranko, It's just a curse."  He
shrugged as he sat uneasily by his mother's side and changed
out the dressing that was laid across the woman's forehead. "It
is a curse that we picked up in China.  Pops took us to this
trainin ground but he didn't know how ta read the guidebook, and
so he turns into a Panda, and I turn into Ranko.  I just look
like a girl, my brain don't change or nuthin."

Nodoka looked at Ranma, and put her hand on his face.  "Why were
you afraid to tell me?  Did you think I would love you any less
because of it?"

Ranma Hesitated.  "Pops told me about the contract.  He thought
that you would not see me as a man amongst men.  I wanted to
tell you, but....<pausing to collect himself> Pops thought you'd
make us commit seppuku.  I really wanted to see you again, so I
had to lie to you.  Pops was going to make us disappear for a
few days each time you showed up, but I wouldn't let him."

Nodoka looked at Ranma, her eyes filling with tears.  "I guess
that I am at fault for making you scared to come to me.  I knew
that I would regret the contract."

Nodoka began crying.  She turned away from Ranma, looking at
Kasumi instead.  "I have mourned the death of my son too many
times already.  I have seen you die in my nightmares.  I hear
your calling out to me like the day you left with Genma.  I hear
it every time I see small children playing in the park.  I
thought you were never coming back to me Ranma.  I will never
acknowledge the existence of your pledge.  Please promise that
you will never hide from me again for any reason."

Ranma sighed, the weight lifted from his shoulders.

Nodoka sat up and wrapped her arms around him, still crying.
Ranma returned the embrace.  A single tear ran down his cheek.
"I promise mother."

****************************************************************

Nodoka, Kasumi and Ranma were walking away from the morgue.
They had been called down to positively identify the bodies.

"Auntie Saotome, There is much to be done in a little time."
Kasumi reminded the elder Saotome with tears still in her eyes.
Looking at Ranma she tried hard to show a proper face but the
fact that Nodoka lost her husband and Ranma lost his father all
in one evening was too much for her as the tears started to
creep down her face as she quietly started to weep again.

Ranma had no idea how to deal with all this and his bloodshot
eyes and quieter than usual demeanor told all too clearly that
he was still in shock over the news and that he had been trying
to put the girls first before his own need to grieve.

"He was an ass, but he was my pop.  I can't imagine that idiot
getting killed by falling into the canal.  he knew that rout
better drunk than he did sober."  The anger was starting to
manifest itself as part of him still screamed in denial that
Genma was gone.

Nodoka stiffened at Ranma's last outburst.  "Ranma, Genma and
Soun were killed.  I did not wish to say anything at the time,
but I noticed the bruise at the base of their throats.  It is
a technique created by the fonder of the anything goes school.
It can mean only one thing.  Hopposai is still alive and decided
to enact his revenge."

Ranma's eyes were instantly ablaze and few could have missed the
aura that lit up around him.

"Hopposai.  I should have known.  For this and every other thing
that the little pervert has done, he will DIE!!"

****************************************************************

Everyone was sitting around the table.  Akane and Nabiki were on
one side.  Ranma was on the other, Nodoka and Kasumi each had
occupied an end.

Nabiki was shuffling some papers with a worried look on her
face.  "I tell you Kasumi the government can split us up.  You
don't have a source of income and without one, you won't be
allowed to be our guardian.  Our house will be sold to settle
daddie's estate.  Then we will be split up."

Akane and Kasumi were tearing up again.  They did not want to
lose the only family they had left.

"Ahem" said Nodoka.  "I guess then there is only one answer
left.  I wish to fulfill the wishes of the dearly departed, and
join the schools.  Originally that involved one of you marrying
Ranma.  But now the schools will be joined and you will not be
broken apart.  Ranma... I would like you to meet your soon to
be adopted sisters, Nabiki and Akane."

The included members turned toward Nodoka.  She smiled slightly.
"I talked it over with Kasumi.  I will sell my home and Ranma
and I will live here.  I will use the sale of my home to pay
the debts owed by your father, and since I have a career, I can
be made your guardian.  Our families will be united and we will
all be together."

Nabiki got up walked over to Nodoka.  She wrapped her arms
around the Saotome Matriarch and began to cry.  In between sobs
one could have heard the words..."Thank you."

Soon Nodoka was being crushed under the bear hug of Akane and
Kasumi.

After they all calmed down, they all agreed to the plan, and
so Nabiki began getting all the paperwork and arrangements ready
for Nodoka to become their Mother.

She was about to make a phone call, when a confused look came
over Nabiki's face.

"Umm Auntie, I don't mean to barge, but you said you had a job?
I will probably need to list that on some of the adoption
paperwork."

Nodoka calming sipped her tea, then replied.  "you aren't dear.
I am a professional photographer.  I take pictures of people
for magazines and advertisements.  It provides me with a solid,
yet entertaining source of income.  I love doing it."

Nabiki was quiet for a moment.  "Then that means you are...

"I am Morima No-Chan.  That is just a nickname that a foreign
model called me once.  The Morima means mother in her language.
She said I reminded her of her own mother.  The name stuck."

Nabiki was awash.  She had a famous photographer in her home,
and didn't even know it.

Looked like there would be no end to the craziness yet.

****************************************************************

Several weeks later.....

Nodoka's hand signed her signature for the last time.  The small
stack of paperwork in front of her signaled that Nabiki and
Akane were now under her guardianship.

She had learned much about her son and her new daughters since
their father's death.

They had turned Hopposai's room into a studio where Nodoka could
work.  A screen in one corner opposite some lighting and in the
other corner was a computer that she used to edit and send the
photos to her clients.

Several shoots had already occurred since the move.  Everyone
involved remarked about the lovely family atmosphere.  No one
could seem to get enough of Kasumi's cookies either.

Several times one of girls was asked to help out in the shoot.
Nabiki showed talent in taken pictures, surprising Nodoka.  It
was if Nabiki had studied on the subject.

Also Ranma-chan had gotten talked into one shot.  The model
was late, and the manager had caught Ranma-Chan outside.  He
had pulled her inside and asked her to change into a designer
dress that the ad was promoting.  She had tried to refuse, but
the man had been persistent.  He groveled at her feet, and
Nodoka finally asked Ranma to do it, just to make him happy.

When Ranma stood in front of the camera, She caused Nodoka and
Nabiki to gasp.  Ranma-Chan was blushing saying she thought she
looked silly.  Nodoka told her she looked very nice, and that it
would only take a few moments more.  So Ranma-Chan tried to
smile and the manager got his pictures.

Afterward Nodoka asked Ranma who had done her makeup.  Ranma
blushed again.  Kasumi admitted that she had convinced the boy-
turned girl that she would make the man very happy and he would
go away by trying to look good.  Nodoka complimented Kasumi on
convincing Ranma, and for such a good job.

Ranma went and took a bath to change back and clean off the
makeup.  When he returned he was not complaining about the event
or the item which he had been asked to wear.

Nodoka had spent as much time with Ranma trying to get to know
him.  She had also been watching him and trying to help him deal
with the loss.  Some of the problems she discovered about her
son would cause chills to her spine.

****************************************************************

One night she had been having trouble sleeping, and so she was
walking down the upstairs hallway toward the kitchen when she
heard quiet crying coming from Ranma's room.

She opened the door slightly and saw him curled up into a ball.
He was protecting his face and his neck, and between cries for
help she heard him whimper "Mother please help."

The door was flung open and pride be damned.  She picked up
Ranma, held him in her arms, and started talking to him.  She
repeated over and over that nothing was going to get him, and
that she was there to protect him.  He began to cry but he
stopped protecting his face, and instead turned to wrap his arms
around her.

She stayed there all night holding him and rocking slightly.
When Nabiki woke up suddenly she decided that she had to use
the bathroom, but stopped when she passed the door to Ranma's
room.  She knocked on the door slightly and caught Nodoka's
gaze.  It was tearful and worried.

"Was he having the nightmare again auntie?  The one where he
calls out your name?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"What you saw is the result of one of Genma's stupid training
ideas.  It is called the Neko Ken.  Ranma was only six years old
when Genma found the procedure in a book.  Ranma was wrapped in
fish sausages and covered in fish paste and thrown into a pit of
hungry cats.  We don't know how many times Genma did it, but it
was every day for many days."  Nabiki shook her head.

Nodoka sat stunned.

Nabiki continued.  "I have watched him relive that nightmare
many times.  He cries out first for Genma, then for you to save
him from the pain.  The cats were scratching and biting him, and
no one came to save him.  So his cries continue and nothing we
could do would stop him.  Tonight it seems that his mother
finally came to save him from the cats."

"Why wouldn't he tell me about this?" Nodoka asked.

"he probably didn't think it was a problem.  He always was too
proud to ask for help."

"Thank you Nabiki, you better go back to bed.  You need your
sleep."

****************************************************************

Hello again people.

This is a combined work by me and Dragon Dagger.

An idea for a fanfiction that I just had to write down.

An Epiphany is the comprehension or perception of reality by
means of a sudden intuitive realization.  I realize there are
several definitions to epiphany, but that is one of them.

Nodoka finding out that Ranko Tendo is really her own son, would
be an epiphany.

But that is not the only discovery to be made.  We will hope to
continue on this theme.

Chapter two will come out soon.  Hope I get some good feedback
on this.
****************************************

if you ever played Everquest, you will know what this means .......
"Wanna see something funny?  Watch a snared Ranger try to catch a snared
Spider."

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