[FFML] [Fanfic][R1/2] Family Secrets - Chapter 2

[Ignacio Moreno]

I know that the first chapter is short. Here is the second chapter.


Disclaimers:


- Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.


- This story is made for fun and is meant for the enjoyment of the fans.


- I have to thank JadeDragonHawk & piccolabimba for revising this chapter.
Thank you very much.


- Please R&R.


- If anybody wants to be a pre reader and help me you only have to e-mail
me. I would be happy to accept. Thanks.


- I would like to have illustrations of my histories. So if anyone is
interested, please email me. Thanks.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chapter 2: Some Truth.


Upon hearing his mother's response, Ranma's first thought was disbelief. It
wasn't that he didn't believe his mother; he couldn't believe her. What she
had just told them was impossible. It was a joke; it had to be a joke. He
was so convinced of it that he wouldn't have been surprised if, in that
moment, his mother had acknowledged it with a big smile.


However, a glance at Nodoka was enough to bury that idea.


After giving them the astounding news, his mother hadn't moved from her
place; she'd just stopped stirring the tea, and had turned toward them. Her
relaxed attitude had disappeared completely, being replaced by a serious
expression, without a trace of humor, and with a sad look that expected, and
feared, their reaction.


Ranma couldn't realize all these little details but, unconsciously, he knew
his mother wasn't joking and that she had told the truth.


Before he could assimilate the news, his companion exploded in an indignant
outburst. Akane always had been quick-tempered, especially when she felt
humiliated as in this case.


She, like Ranma, couldn't believe that they were brother and sister, but
neither could she conceive that anyone could joke about something so
serious. She only could think of one explanation for Ranma's mother’s
sabotage of their wedding. And that was, for some reason, she had found
Akane unworthy of Ranma. Telling them that they were siblings, a lie, was a
subtle way of rejecting Akane without humiliating her publically. This way,
her son was free to marry someone else more "adequate", while the
relationship between the two families remained intact.


Apparently, their feelings didn't matter at all. But, if their parents
believed that she would submit to their authority without a fight, they were
very wrong.


At that moment, Akane decided to oppose their parents' decision with all her
might, without realizing that this would prove, beyond any doubt, that she
cared for Ranma.


She wiped her tears with the cuff of her blouse, looked at Nodoka with
steely determination and snapped.


"Well! Don't count me in on this charade!"


Turning around, she stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.


The echoes still resounded in the room, when her fiancé turned round to the
door, ready to follow her. However, before he could take a single step, his
mother called him.


"Ranma! Wait! Don't go! It's better to leave her alone for now. Give her
time to let it sink in."


Her words had an immediate effect on Ranma; who stopped wondering what to do
next.


On one hand, he wanted to follow and talk to Akane, ask her if she was ok…
but he knew that his mother was right. It was better to give her time. He
also had to recognize that the words weren't his forte and, in such a
delicate moment, it wasn’t unlikely that he would say something
inappropriate and worsen the situation. But he wanted to be with her,
support and comfort her...


Before he could make a final decision, Akane's footsteps faded into the
distance.


Believing that it was too late to follow her, Ranma turned towards his
mother with a sigh of resignation. Again face to face, the boy looked into
her eyes and asked with a pleading voice.


"Mom, please, tell me. What you said, is it true? That we're ... we are ..."
He was unable to pronounce the word, but his mother understood him
perfectly.


"Yes, it's true." She replied without hesitation; only a slight sadness
clouded her words.


"Is Soun my father?" The boy managed to ask with broken voice.


"No!"


"Then, you and Genma are Akane's parents?"


"Neither."


The answers had been clear, but so concise, that Ranma was starting to
become exasperated by the little information obtained.


"If you aren't Akane's parents, and Soun isn't my father. How could we be
siblings?" The young man asked slightly annoyed.


"It's true that both of you have the same parents; however, of those whom
you consider to be your parents, none of us really are."


Ranma kept quiet with the head bowed, while he assimilated what his mother,
or at least the woman that he had believed was his mother; had told him.


Most of his life he hadn't known his mother; when he finally met her, a
stupid promise prevented him to appear as her son. And now, when they could
finally be a normal family, it was she who admitted to not being his mother.


This news had turned his heart into an indescribable chaos.


Surprise, anger, disbelief and fear fought each other to gain supremacy
among his emotions. Meanwhile, confidence, weakened by the doubts about his
origins, watched from a prudent distance.


Suddenly he remembered a detail, impossible to falsify, that belied the
allegations of his mother.


Slowly, he raised his head and, with a strangely calm voice for the
circumstances, he said.


"Everything's a lie! If you're not my mother, how do you explain that we
look so alike?"


"You're right. We are so alike, that I don't understand how I didn't realize
before that you were Ranma." Her words were nothing more than thinking
aloud. "When you told me that you were Akane's cousin, I believed it and
didn't think more about it. The truth is that I don't have a good memory for
faces."


A faint smile appeared on her face when she remembered as she mistook Ranma
for a stranger.


Nodoka shook those thoughts out of her mind, looked her son in the eye, and
responded very seriously.


"Believe me when I tell you that I always have and will love you as if you
were my own son. But what I told you is true. I am not your mother. Your
birth mother is my older sister."


The young man couldn't hide his surprise and, with a look of utter
amazement, he repeated the words that changed all his life.


"Your…older…sister…"


"That's right." Nodoka confirmed and, feeling that an explanation was
needed, added. "Although she was three years older than me, we looked so
much alike that even our parents used to mistake us; until she started
wearing glasses."


Ranma wasn't listening.


Once his adoptive mother confirmed the shocking news, he started to walk
slowly towards the door leading to the garden. Nodoka said nothing, but
followed him with a sad look, looking for a gesture of understanding on his
figure.


She didn't find it.


The young man, stunned by what he had learned, walked completely absorbed,
without realizing the pleading eyes of the woman, that until that moment he
had considered his mother.


When he was about to leave the room, she asked slightly worried.


"Where are you going, Ranma?"


He stopped momentarily under the lintel of the door.


"I'm going to... train." He suddenly said, without turning, as if he just
had the idea.


Without saying a word, the boy went out into the garden, turned the corner
of the house and disappeared from sight. Alone again, Nodoka stared at the
garden with tears in her eyes, and the name of the boy she considered her
son, on her lips.


The door opened with such force that it bounced off the wall, and nearly hit
Akane when she entered. Without stopping, she slammed the door with a
resounding thud, and launched her school-bag over the table that was beneath
the window. Its heavy landing displaced what was already on the table
knocking part of it over.


She didn't pay attention to the pattering of the objects on the ground, and
threw herself full-length on the bed, hugging the pillow.


Alone in her room, Akane's anger and indignation soon lost their intensity,
like a fire left unfed; leaving behind a lingering feeling of despair, which
crystallized into a simple question.


"Why do they do this?"


The forced betrothal, the other fiancées, to prepare two weddings and
sabotage everything at the last minute; all of them fit in that complaint,
formulated as a question in a whisper.


Trying to find meaning in such nonsense, the girl searched among her
memories for anything that could have made her inadequate in Nodoka’s eyes.
Unfortunately, her mood and insecurities stained the memories, making them
blacker than they really were; while the tears returned to flow down her
cheeks, she had the absolute certainty that Ranma's mother didn't want her
as her child's wife. The events that had occurred since their return from
China proved it.


Before Akane could sink further into despair, someone knocked on the door.
The unexpected call shocked the young woman who only managed to sit up on
the bed and ask with a quivering voice.


"Who is it?"


"Akane; it's me, Nodoka. May I come in?"


The girl froze, not knowing what to do. She didn't want to see the woman who
had rejected her; not so soon, even though she burned with desire to ask
Nodoka the reasons for why she couldn't marry her son. And this time she
wanted the truth, not a stupid lie.

In view of the lack of response, Nodoka insisted.


"Akane; let me in, please."


Her voice was tinged with concern, but the young woman, immersed in her
indecision, didn't notice it.


The minutes passed slowly, until Ranma's mother’s voice was heard again.


"Akane! I'm coming in!"


The door didn't take long to open and Nodoka walked into the room. A look
helped her to realize the mess caused by the landing of the school-bag, the
objects lying around and the small stains on the pillow; before her eyes
landed on Akane, who had turned upon hearing the door open.


Her reddened face, watery eyes and the trails of tears that flowed down her
cheeks were sufficient confirmation of the Nodoka's fears.


"Oh Akane! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She cried. "Believe me, my intention
wasn't hurt you."


The young woman didn't react at first, but slowly the sadness left her
features and, as its embers ignited, the anger took its place.


"Why have you come?" She asked with furious tone.


"I want to talk with you." Nodoka replied slowly and gently, but with a hint
of concern, trying to calm Akane. "And know how you are."


"And how did you think that I was going to be?" The young woman burst.
"Jumping with joy?"


Akane's voice oozed so much sarcasm, that it made her opponent to shudder
visibly. She had to clasp her hands in front of her chest to try to control
the tremor that ran through her body.


"I understand how you feel." She began soothingly.


'And what do you know about how I feel?' The young woman thought irritated.


"I discovered it too late to stop the wedding otherwise." On saying that,
Nodoka lowered her eyes to avoid looking at Akane, lest she noticed her lie.
Although it was true that the sabotage was the only way of stopping the
wedding that had occurred to her, none of this would have been necessary if
she had told the fathers what she knew, or thought she knew. However, this
meant she had to admit to Genma that Ranma wasn't their son and, for many
reasons, Nodoka hadn't strength to tell the truth to her husband.


"I know that I ruined your day," she continued, "but if you had married, it
would have been much worse."


Her insistence on such an absurd lie only further infuriated Akane, who with
great difficulty managed to control herself enough to refrain from yelling
at her.


"At least tell me why you don't want us to get married. Is it because I
don't know how to cook or because I'm not as a good fighter as him?"


Nodoka's mind took a few seconds to understand what the girl had just said
and its connotations; but, when she got it, her reaction was of complete and
genuine surprise.


"Do you think that I have invented everything, because I don't want you to
marry my son? Oh, Akane! Do you think that ...? "


The young woman couldn't take it anymore.


"Enough!" She shouted. "Stop lying! It's just the two of us. You don't need
to lie to anybody! Come on! Dare to tell me the truth!"


The last words came out choked with emotion, while the tears ran down her
face freely again.


Nodoka winced at seeing the girl's suffering. She regretted what she had to
do, although she kept telling herself it would have been worse if she had
done nothing. This thought had consoled her since she had sabotaged the
wedding, but it was no longer enough.


Trying not to think about it anymore, Ranma's mother attempted to calm her
son's fiancée, and with her most soothing and quiet voice, she said.


"Akane, there is no reason why I wouldn't want you to marry Ranma. Moreover,
I'd be the first to be glad for your happiness. Unfortunately, I fear that
Ranma is, in fact, your brother."


The girl continued crying with her head bowed, without say anything.


After a little hesitation, Nodoka sat on the bed next to Akane and tried to
hug her.


"No!" Akane said sobbing, while she raised her arm to move Nodoka away.
"Leave me alone! I don't need you to console me!"


Undeterred, the woman dodged girl's raised arm, and wrapped her in a hug
while whispering soothingly in her ear.


"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."


Akane didn’t have the strength to move her away, or perhaps it was that,
despite her initial rejection, she really needed the comfort; the fact was
that both remained embraced for a long time in the silence of the room,
broken only by the sobs of the girl and the reassuring whispers of her
companion.


After a while Nodoka felt the girl's breath slowly calming down, while her
sobs died down. Happy to be able to help, Ranma's mother continued to hug
Akane silently.


Finally, the silence was broken by the young woman.


"Why? Why, if we're siblings, didn't you tell us it in the first place? Why
did you let me fal..." Akane's voice broke off from the emotion, unable to
finish the sentence.


"I would have done it if I had known, but I only discovered it after the
bird-men kidnapped you."


Surprised, Akane broke the hug and stared at Nodoka with tearful eyes.


"Do you expect me to believe that, until now, you didn't know that Ranma
wasn’t your son? What was the cause? A collective hallucination for nine
months?"


The teenager felt herself getting worked up, just thinking about how she had
been about to believe such a stupid lie. There was no way this absurd story
was true. This was the real world, not a manga in which the couple who are
the two main characters, after being separated at birth, meet again in their
teens.


Nevertheless, Nodoka kept Akane's gaze. When she spoke her voice was clearly
annoyed.


"Of course I knew that Ranma wasn't my son! How couldn't I know it, when I
wasn't the one who gave birth to him?" While she spoke her eyes started to
fill with tears. "But I've always considered him my son, even if I wasn't a
good mother. Not a day goes by that I don't regret having accepted that
stupid contract and having allowed Genma to take him away for ten years."
Unable to hold back her tears any longer, her eyes welled up. "I would do
anything to make him happy, and I won't allow you to ruin your lives getting
married. Not after what Soun told me."


Akane, surprised by this unexpected confession, didn't know what to say and
stood listening in silence.


The day had been long and tough for the residents of the house. Not only had
they had to deal with Akane’s abduction, but also had to continue with their
daily tasks. Therefore Nodoka was a bit surprised when, after finishing
tiding the kitchen, she saw that the living room light was still on.


She quickly assumed it would be Soun who was there. This wasn't very
difficult, considering that Happosai had not been seen in the house for
days, and Akane's sisters had long since retired to their rooms.


For a moment, Nodoka stood on the doorway of the kitchen, unsure of what to
do. Finally, despite her exhaustion, she decided to see how Soun was as
Akane's kidnapping had been a hard blow for him.


On reaching the room, she found him sitting at the table, flipping through a
photo album with teary eyes. Before him, there were two empty bottles of
sake, and a third one that was almost finished.


She quietly observed the scene from the door leading to the garden, and
could not help but feel sorry for the state in which the patriarch of the
Tendo family found himself.


The moment that he placed, with a trembling hand, the third empty bottle on
the table, she walked toward the drunken, slouched figure with the reddened
face, a shadow of what was supposed to be a master of martial arts.


"Soun, you should stop. You've had too much." She said with a firm but
compassionate tone.


Upon hearing those words he turned and, for a moment, he didn't recognize
the woman standing beside him.


Then his face lit up and his eyes were filled with tears again. Suddenly he
leapt onto her, hugged her legs and said with a rueful voice.


"Oh Kimiko! I'm sorry! I couldn't fulfill the promise. Please, forgive me!"


Nodoka, paralyzed by the shock, needed a few seconds to remember that Kimiko
was the name of Soun's deceased wife. Apparently, the sake’s fumes had made
Soun mixed them up.


The sorrow filled Nodoka's heart, but her head reminded her that she was in
a very awkward position.


Without losing a moment she tried, in the least violent way possible, to
escape his grasp; while she repeated over and over again, that she wasn't
Kimiko. Her voice wasn't able to cut through the haze of his drunkenness
and, in his confusion, Soun told her a secret that he had never revealed to
anyone.


"Forgive me! I hadn't strength to tell her that we aren't her real parents.
Now the bird-men have kidnapped her and I don't know if we'll see…"


The rest, unintelligible, was drowned by his tears.


The surprise stopped Nodoka's attempts to free herself; and she kept
watching compassionately in silence, the remains of man that cried hugged to
her legs.


However, after a first moment of stupor, Nodoka wasn't surprised that Akane
was adopted. Although it wasn't as common as in other countries, adoptions
weren't totally unusual in Japan. She, for example, had to take care of his
sister's son…


Without any previous warning, her mind was struck by a feeling leaving her
confused and afraid. She tried with all her might to dismiss that thought,
but doubt had already rooted deep in her heart.


With more force than necessary, she grabbed Soun by the shoulders and, while
shaking him to get his attention, she asked.


"Who’re Akane's parents? Soun please, tell me."


Soun looked at her through veiled eyes without appearing to have understood
her question. Then, slowly, he turned to the album, raised his arm and
pointed to one of the photos. Nodoka had to bend to see whom he pointed at.
When she managed to discern it, her eyes widened and her breath faltered.


It couldn't be. It was impossible, but she knew that man. Although she had
seen him only once in her life, she had never forgotten his features. The
man, who Soun pointed to, was her sister's husband. The one from whose arms
she had received Ranma.


Once it became clear that Nodoka had finished her story, Akane asked,
clearly surprised


"And is that all?"


Nodoka nodded without turning to look at her.


The girl, unable to sit still, began to wander around the room, pausing
briefly, from time to time, in front of Nodoka.


"You're saying that you sabotaged our wedding... No! Worse! You told Ukyo to
sabotage our wedding because you think that Ranma and I are siblings. And
the only evidence you have is that you thought you recognized in a photo,
the man who gave Ranma to you?"


The tone of her voice rose as she spoke, so that her last words were
screamed rather than spoken.


"That man is Ranma's father!" Nodoka tried to defend herself.


"I don't care!" Akane shouted angrily. "Even if he's Ranma's father, that
doesn't make him my father!"


Nodoka remained seated shaking her head. Akane didn't notice, or didn't want
to notice it, and continued arguing loudly; at times, at the top of her
voice.


"What proof do you have? That my father had a picture of him doesn't mean
anything! Besides, you could be mistaken!"


"Your father pointed him out to me."


"And!? You yourself have said that he was drunk as Davie's sow! For heaven’s
sake! If he confused you with my mother!"

Nodoka stood up and faced her.


"Do you think that I do not know? What am I so stupid that I don't realize
that it's almost impossible? Do you believe that I couldn't think of these
reasons and many more?"


Akane turned around and leaned on her messy desk, gripping its edges with
such force that her knuckles turned white.


"Then, why did you do it?" She demanded hoarsely from the effort. "Why did
you sabotage the wedding?"


Nodoka sighed and said with a calm voice.


"Because, despite all the reasons against it, I couldn't help but think that
there was a slim chance that everything was true." She paused briefly,
hoping that her words sank into the stubborn young. "Imagine if you marry
him and you are really siblings!"


"I don't care!" Akane answered immediately, without thinking.


Nodoka opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. Her only reaction
was a sad smile that covered her face.


"It might be true that it doesn't make any difference to you. At the end of
the day, what matters is being with him, isn't it?"


She didn't answer, but Nodoka noticed her shudder.


"But, did you think about the consequences? Did you think what would happen
when people hear about it? 'Cause I assure you that this isn't something
that you can keep secret."


"I don't care..."


The girl's voice sounded like a squeal, before being cut off sharply.


"And your family? It wouldn't matter if it was just Ranma and you alone. But
have you thought of the humiliation and dishonor that we would suffer?"


"Shut up!" The girl screamed, but it didn’t stop the other woman.


"Have you thought about your children? Do you know the problems that they
can have? And, if you were lucky and they were completely healthy, what
future would they have when everybody knows that their parents were
siblings?"


Nodoka could have continued, but stopped when Akane started to tremble
visibly. Despite not being able to see her face, she hadn’t any doubt that
Akane was crying.


She knew that she had been hard on her, but it was necessary. When you were
in love, and, in spite of everything, Nodoka didn't doubt that Ranma and
Akane were; you see things much more optimistically. Somebody had to explain
to them clearly what might happen and, although she hated having to be the
one to tell them, there wasn't anyone else.


She didn't doubt she had done the right thing. However, this certainly
didn't stop her eyes from filling with tears.


After a few unending moments an order was heard; whispered between sobs
because the throat that uttered it hadn’t more strength.


"Go away."


The woman didn't argue. She simply turned and left the room, closing the
door gently behind her.


That night, while they dined together, Nodoka couldn't help but keep an eye
on the engaged couple.


Both had appeared on time for dinner, but, apart from the greeting on
arrival and a few complimentary words on being served, had kept quiet,
focused on their plates. In spite of this, neither had touched their dinner.
The paradox of Ranma's almost empty plate simply showed that he wasn't even
bothering to prevent the theft of food by his father.


Nodoka sighed quietly.


It was normal that they were confused; she herself was unsure of her own
mood. She would have done anything to try to help, but didn't know what to
say, and feared that any of her words would just make things worse.
Therefore she kept quiet, praying that the situation didn't get worse.


Unfortunately it was impossible for Nabiki to miss the mood of both
teenagers and, in her own way, tried to ease the atmosphere.


"What a long faces! Don't tell me that you’ve been fighting again."


The lack of reaction from the persons in question didn't worry Nabiki
because she had saved the best for last.


"Honestly! You quarrel so much that you're more like siblings rather than an
engaged couple."


Nabiki's words caused the fathers to roar with sonorous laughter, and even
made the circumspect Kasumi laugh. However, those same words caused Nodoka's
heart to leap in her chest and the engaged couple were paralyzed by the
shock, as if they had been hit by a lightning bolt.


The echo of laughter hadn’t died away when Akane, recovering slowly her
mobility, left her bowl of rice and chopsticks, thanked her sister for the
dinner, stood up and left the room.


Her father and two sisters stared at the door, surprised and not
understanding what was happening. At the same time, Genma turned to his son.


"Ranma, what are you waiting for? Go ...!"


His last words were lost in an animal growl, when his wife threw him the
already cold contents of her cup of tea. Although neither was necessary,
because Ranma had already stood up and gone to the door.


He only turned a moment to look at his mother's eyes, daring her to stop him
this time. A slight nod from her was enough for the young man to walk
quickly out of the room, leaving the rest of the occupants wondering what
had just happened.


Ranma ran up the stairs two steps at a time, and arrived upstairs just when
his fiancée reached the end of the corridor.


"Akane, wait!"


His pleading voice stopped her.


Seeing that she showed no intention to turn around, he realized that he
would have to be the first to speak if he wanted to start a conversation.


He wanted to ask so many things that, for a moment, he was unsure of what to
say. When he finally opened his mouth, what came of was "Do you believe what
my mother told us?”


His voice stalled slightly with the last word, because he wasn’t sure how to
refer to Nodoka.


"Do you think we…?"


"I don't know!" Akane cut in hoarsely, unable to hear again the word that
was destroying her life.


Ranma could feel the pain in her voice, and tried to say something to
relieve it.


"Akane, I ..."


The girl’s body trembled upon hearing the concern and affection with he
pronounced her name. Opposed emotions wracked her body, and she had to
collect all her control to say a few words.


"Ranma no! Please! No now…!"


She didn't wait for a reply.


Akane swiftly covered the distance that left to her room, entered and closed
the door, locking out a distraught Ranma.


To Be Continued…
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