A bad day in the life of Saotome Ranma . By Kyokukou Disclaimer : I don't own the characters from Ranma 1/2 only the characters that I write myself . So please don't sue me ! But if you try to use my characters .....there will be ...unpleasant consequences if I find out . Do not repost or reprint this without my permission , however if you do ASK there is a good chance I will let you . " One may go a long way after one is tired ." -French Proverb Chapter 8 THAT didn't feel good Waking up is a chore of epic proportions . First , your body begins to speed up , drawing in more fuel to allow for mobility and the systems that support mobility . Second , your eyes open and most of the time light comes blaring in , assaulting your mind with images that the conscious mind is not yet prepared to deal with yet . In fact, the general statement is: "Ugghhh . Make it stop ." Ugh is a useful word . A lot can be done with it . It can be used for any tense , and for almost any verb and noun . The sentence 'Make it stop.' is actually a semi-prayer to whoever it is that listens to these things to please quit making me think this early in the morning . As such Nabiki was far from pleased to roll out of bed . But if she didn't it would have been impossible to go get her Shintai and break it over the head of whomever was still persistently rapping on her door to rob her of sleep . So , albeit groggily , she did precisely that . " Ugh ." Ranma said , before starting down the stairs . This was not looking to be a good day . Yesterday he had tried to solve one problem , Shampoo , and ended up revealing WAY too much of his past to Kasumi and Nabiki months ahead of planned schedule . All that sneezing wasn't the best of signs anyway , to his count that meant that at least eight people were talking about him . He could only account for six , including the body hopping sorceress he had just found out about upon returning to the Tendo home . Nope , not a good day for progress at all . Today didn't seem like it would be much better . He had woken up early as usual , and as usual his father was snoring rather loudly . So far so good . He had gotten a change of clothing and made his way to the bath , this time making sure to NOT hide his presence . Only to walk in on Akane as she was getting out of a bath she was taking since her subconscious had chosen this morning to get her up early . After he had removed himself from his nice Ranma shaped impression in the wall he had his bath . After morning stretches he tried apologizing to Akane , only to make a matching Ranma shaped impression in the outer wall . Kasumi asked him to go wake up the others while she talked to Akane since she didn't feel like talking without her fists . His father was easy enough to get up , and his reprisal was just as easily deflected . Soun was also quite easy to wake . So far so good again . Of course knocking on Nabiki's door had earned him a bamboo sword broken over his head . Let's see now . Three fiancée's turn into four overnight , his schedule for dealing with them is in shambles , today already sucks . Something's missing . " Oh sorry Ranbaka ." Akane apologized insincerely , after 'accidentally spilling' her water on him as he sat down for breakfast . Oh yes , the water , got to have splashing with cold water . " And you got a bamboo sword on your head ." The youngest Tendo daughter added needlessly . " Thanks ," She sighed , taking the ruined practice weapon off her head . " I was too distracted to notice ." " What's the matter ?" Kasumi asked , genuinely concerned . " With experience you know things right ?" She began , setting the broken shintai on the floor and starting her breakfast . " Yes , of course ." Kasumi agreed . " And like it or not ," He continued . " I got a lot 'o experience in bad days . So I know this is gonna be one of 'em . A REAL bad one too ." Her father tensed up at her words . " I guess the old man picks up on a few things now and again ." She thought . She made sure the rest of her breakfast was short . She ate little and what little she ate she ate fast . She did not even care that her normally gluttonous father didn't even attempt to steal her food . She just wanted to get this day over with as fast as possible . The moment she had finished all she planned to eat she left the Tendo home with grim determination in her stride . " What was that about ?" Nabiki asked after Ranma brushed by her on his way out . " Oh , Ranma just thinks that today might be a bad one ." Kasumi explained . " He doesn't think ." Genma piped up reluctantly . " He knows ." " Oh it can't be that bad ." Akane snorted . " Nabiki hit him and he tried peeping on me, so now he thinks his day is ruined . The baka ." " No ." Genma shook his head fretfully . " There are a few things that I know Ranma is never , ever , wrong about . This is one of them . When he says it's going to be a bad day I know it will be . Now excuse me ." The big man stood and left . Left quite quickly to be precise . Quickly excusing himself he followed his old friend into the hall . To his surprise Genma had broken into a run . Catching up with his friend he was surprised again to see genuine fear on Genma's face . " What's wrong ?" He demanded . " It's just a bad day for Ranma right ?" " Yes , but Ranma's definition of a 'Bad day' usually includes nearly being killed at least once ." The fear grew on Genma's face . " Think about it ! What could come close to killing Ranma !" He decided to seek shelter with his friend . * * * She had taken to checking in on the Dojo every day at the time when Ranma returned from school before he didn't have any classes . Normally she found him practicing away , sometimes at mediation or some predominantly mental technique , but most of the time at his father's brand of Anything Goes kenpo . She found it odd that for all the praise his father had for Ranma's sword skill and special techniques she never found him practicing any of them . Today when she walked by the open door she found a sight entirely different from what she saw normally . Ranma was lying on the floor on his side , his body limp . He didn't move , he didn't breath and she couldn't sense anything from him . " Ranma !" She called out to him , hoping that he was just hiding his presence out of habit again . He didn't move . " RANMA !" She cried running to his side with all her speed . Turning him onto his back she gasped at his torn clothing , black and blue bruises and contusions showed through the torn parts . Fighting off panic she put her ear near his mouth . He wasn't breathing . A quick check on his wrist confirmed that he had no pulse . But he was still warm and colored , that meant that he still had a chance . Fighting against panic she straddled him and started CPR . First the heart . Only to realize that even if she pushed as hard as she could she couldn't even shift his ribs , much less depress his heart . Not wasting any more time she leaned over and began mouth to mouth . " If I can't even do proper CPR on him what could have done this to him ?" She asked herself in the back of her mind as she worked . In the middle of the fourth breath she felt his lips move . Not the caress of a kiss , but a twitch of surprise . Sitting back up she was overjoyed to she him open his eyes slowly and look up at her . Extracting herself she was kneeling at his side in a instant . " Ranma , you're alive ! Thank Kami-sama I thought you were going to die !" Knowing that the crisis was now over she let the tears , of relief now , flow freely . Only to feel his arm around her in a comforting embrace . " Ranma , you shouldn't move yet !" She gently shrugged off his arm and laid him down softly . " You almost died , just now ." At the reminder her tears doubled their efforts . He waited until she had the crying under control before speaking in a very normal voice . " Kasumi , I hate to tell you this , but I wasn't dead ." " Ranma , you had no pulse , you weren't breathing ." She shook her head . " How long did you wait for a pulse ?" He said slowly . " I hate to tell you this but my resting heart rate is usually below twenty ." " But you weren't breathing ." Now she was more confused than anything . " I was breathing , just really slowly . I was trying to put my body in a regenerative state . Masaru taught me how , first you gotta slow everything down so much that you can kinda reset stuff ." " But your injuries ?" This was just getting worse and worse for her . " Bad day remember ." He sighed and laid back down with a wince . " What happened ?" She put a concerned hand on his shoulder . " I mean what could do this to you ?" " Oni ." He stared at the rafters . " Nani ?" " I got attacked by a Oni on the way back from school ." Ranma said as if describing a quirk in today's weather . " Some jerk , Gosunkugi or something , summoned a Oni to whisk me away from his beloved Akane . Problem is he summoned something a BIT more powerful than he intended ." " Oh my ." " Normally something like that ain't any big deal for me to fight ," He closed his eyes tiredly . " but I didn't have a sword handy so I had to go hand to hand with a guy that had a three meter height and one metric ton weight advantage on me . Real fun ." He finished with a tired snort . " I need to get you to Tofu-sensei ." She insisted . " But I got classes ," He continued as if she had never spoken . " so I was gonna try and heal some of it before I headed back . You know just in case another one finds me or somethin' ." Keeping his eyes closed he put his hands behind his head for a pillow . " Stupid me , I forgot to warn you or close the door before I tried . Sorry 'bout that , but I gotta get some of this healed or everyone will start wondering why I'm walking kinda funny ." " I'm so sorry ." She apologized . " Would you like me to get you a pillow ?" " Naw , but thanks Kasumi , it shouldn't take that long ." It wasn't until she was already into the main house that she touched her lips and found herself remembering how his felt against hers . So warm , yet somehow electric against hers , even in such non sensual context as it had been . Perhaps next time- " NO !" She mentally shouted and jerked her hand away from herself . But why not ? She was a potential fiancée as well ? Why shouldn't she ? Akane had problems of her own along with Otama , Nabiki might not ever fully accept Ranma in light of his past . So what was wrong with her wanting some happiness ? " No , that was a mistake , I just thought he was dying . It's best to forget the entire incident . Besides my family needs me . A family without a mother isn't a family , and I PROMISED MOTHER I'd keep us together as a family !" This time the little voice was silent , but it's words remained . * * * " So sempai ," A boy strolled up to her . " I hear that Akira and Sanosuke are gonna fight it out after sunset .." " Odds are in favor of Sanosuke ." She whipped out her ledger and a pen . " Great , put me down for forty thousand on Sanosuke to win ." " Bullshit ," Another boy said . " put me down for forty thousand on Akira , he's faster ." She was so busy writing down bets that she barely noticed her instincts warning her until the last second . Hoping she would look really stupid in a second he lunged back , purposely flipping over the back of the bench . The sound of metal cutting the wood of her bench told her that sadly she wasn't going to look safe and foolish , but wise and in mortal danger . " Do you have any IDEA how long it took me to find THIS " The tattooed man waved his Indian sword about . " at the bottom of that DAMN DRAINAGE DITCH !" " I would say I'm sorry but I'm just not ." She shrugged , attempting to look causal . " I mean trying to kill me is bad enough , but trying to kill me and trap my soul is really something I can't sympathize with ." It was then she noticed that her skirt was sliced open from the bottom to just barely below the crotch straight down the middle . One step told her that the cut was the same on the back , if she hadn't kept her legs apart when she had flipped ... " Oh , and now you go and ruin my school uniform too ." She put on a annoyed tone and hoped no one was close enough to see her legs begin to shake at the close call . " ENOUGH !" The Indian bellowed . " I've waited too long to kill you !" He snarled before charging . She waited until the last moment to leap over him . Only to be surprised when he managed to twist an slash at her . Coiling into a ball she let the blade whisk only a few centimeters from her . The maneuver , however , cost Raishal his balance and sent the Hindu warrior into a wall . Landing she found that she had not escaped unscathed . A entire quarter of her dress's left corner of and part of her left sleeve were presently floating to the ground a few meters from her . Unless she planned on either losing a her life or giving all the boys even more of a free show she better leave rather quickly . Turning before Raishal could get up she printed for the school . Once in range she leapt for the nearest open window . A insufficiently clad girl jumping into the third story window trends to scare people . Problem being that these girls were carrying buckets of water to some chemistry lab . Japanese girls have a habit of bringing their hands to their mouths when they scream , but if said hands are full they simply throw whatever it was in order to empty them . " OH ! I'm so sorry sempai !" The first to recover started to bow profusely . Now quite drenched she sat against the outer wall in a large puddle with one bucket over her shoulder and another on her exposed leg . " Now I know how Ranma feels , well minus the curse part ." She thought . " You can start making up for it by doing me two favors ." She said , adrenaline always got her mind going , and Raishal always got her adrenaline flowing . " Anything Sempai !" The other girl bowed deeply again and again . " Good ." She gave them a wan smile . " First , casually mind you , look out the window and tell me if you see a man with a sword ." " Yes , but it's not a katana ." " Doesn't matter ." She told them . " Now does he see you , or is he looking up here ?" " Nope , he's kinda jumping up and down and screaming a lot ." " Good . One of you keep watching and tell me if he goes inside the school ." " Hai ." The girls agreed in unison . Then she heard a commotion from outside of a entirely different sort . This one involved Akane screaming 'HENTAI !' over and over again . Risking a look she looked out one of the windows at a strange sight even in her life . Akane was busy running about in random directions trying to evade some sort of flying man who seemed intent on groping her and any nearby female . " MAITE ! NO !" The resident high school conjuror , Gosunkugi , yelled at the flying pervert . " You're supposed to be the kami of Horror not Hentai !" " This is going to be a long day ." She leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor . * * * " THAT didn't feel good ." She saw Ranma's eyes fly open before he spoke . His expression irritable , but his violet eyes fretful . After a half an hour she returned to the Dojo and had managed to convince him to take the rest of the day off and at least stay in the main house where she could keep an eye on him . She had been doing just that when he had made the sudden proclamation . Instantly Soun and Genma flanked the young man , appearing from nowhere . " What is it , Ranma ?" Genma urged . " A martial artist come to challenge ? A Oni ? A sorcerer after Otama ?" Soun began the rapid fire 'bad thing' multiple choice . " No , no , and no ." Ranma shook his head to each one . " A disturbance in the Tao ?" " It's the force , no , and willya quit watchin' those American movies ." " Then what ?!" Ranma was demanded in stereo . " I just felt that a lot of bad things just decided to home in on here ." Ranma explained as if discussing a common subject such as meals . " Ranma , how do you..." She trailed off as both older men had already taken the younger man by the shoulders and punted him off the patio and towards the horizon . " It's after him !" Genma resoned after the fact . " YES !" Her father agreed . " We must protect this house ." " Ranma has serious injures... " She trailed off in mid sentence . The two had vanished to their hiding places just as suddenly and mysteriously as they had come . * * * Ono Tofu was not usually called for house calls at this our , but as always he made time for the Tendo's . After all the Ono's still owed them a great debt . But this was a unusual case even for the unusual Tendo's . So far he guessed he had seen a back alley that was decorated in early magic war zone with a good reptilian like footprint in the concrete every few meters , a huge pile of women's underclothes with a spirit frolicking through them in the middle of the street , a entire block decorated in premodern warzone , a fair number of the student body of Furinkan high scattered about unconscious , and he still had yet to make the final turn to reach the Tendo Dojo . Taking a deep breath to fortify himself he turned the corner . Only to meet a perfectly normal block . It continued to be disconcertingly normal all the way to the Dojo . He just couldn't take it anymore , this was to normal . He broke into a dead run all the way to the Dojo . Once there Genma greeted him at the gate . " Ah , Tofu-sensei , thank you for coming on such short notice ." Genma began after a short bow . " I'm afraid Tendo-kun is unable to do much more than cry over Akane and Nabiki ." " How badly are they hurt ?" He asked as they walked to the house . " Akane was glomped by a spirit a couple hundred times , I don't know if that's physically bad for her , but she's not letting any man anywhere near her ." " And Nabiki ? Was it that Indian man ?" " Yes , she has a nick or two , but I think she's just exhausted ." No more was said after they slipped their shoes off and hurried into the house . Akane was backed up against the wall and making threatening gestures to Soun whenever he even hinted that he might come a step closer , then at Genma as soon as she caught sight of him . Nabiki was lying on the floor under a blanket , her head propped on a fresh pillow . Soun was busy sobbing at Nabiki then Akane in separate intervals . This was the Tendo household he was used to . " First thing's first , get control ." He thought . " Saotome-san ," He began . " Please take Tendo-san to another room ." The other man nodded and did as he was bidden . " Hi Akane ." He began , smiling at the young girl as if nothing was amiss . Her reaction was the best he could hope for . She stopped posturing and gave him a wary look . " Otama , help me out here ." He sighed , glancing at Nabiki . Akane didn't budge . " Akane , just get over here ." Nabiki said wearily . Reluctantly , the youngest of the Tendo sisters took one step forward , then another , and another . Until she collapsed into his arms . Akane didn't sob , she didn't hold him desperately , she just hung there nearly limp . " Finally ." Otama said , her voice muffled by his chest . " That girl can really fight when she's panicked ." " Where's Ranma ?" He asked , directing the question to neither of them in particular . " Kasumi said something about him being punted across Tokyo after lunch ." Nabiki told him , her voice growing faint as she began to fall asleep . " He still hasn't shown up yet ." Taking a moment he catalogued his injuries . To many . Well , it wasn't like he hadn't had much worse before or more of them at a time . But , being injured wasn't a state he enjoyed . No not at all , not being able to function at true form tended to annoy him , then there was the bothersome matter of the pain . So far today he had sent a rather large Oni back to hell , fought a western drake to a standstill , outdid a sorcerer in a battle of riddles , got mobbed as he took the rap for some two foot tall panty thief who happened to have the ki of a minor master , took out some fat bug-eyed man who called himself the 'Dojo destroyer' , involuntarily starred in a commercial for some skin cream , changed from a man to a woman and back again twenty eight times so far , and he was only halfway to Nerima . " Tendo-san and Pop are going to pay .." He growled as he limped down the street . " I'm sure he's fine ." He told Nabiki with a reassuring smile . Soon after the exhausted girl fell sound asleep . Keeping an tabs on Akane with his hearing he preformed a quick examination on Nabiki . Sure enough , aside from a few nicks the middle Tendo daughter was simply tired . The adrenaline shock from her ordeal combining with the usual exhaustion that running from the relentless Nabikicidal Indian usually caused . So far Nabiki had eluded the man , but a few times she had come quite close to death at his hands . How the girl still went about her life with that man hunting her every day was beyond him . Sure that Nabiki would be fine in a matter of hours he turned his attention to the young girl to his feet . Akane , or Otama , it was hard to tell sometimes , shifted a bit and sighed . The two girls each had their own ki and souls , but both being constantly present in one body it was still hard to determine who was in control at the best of times . " Otama ," He guessed . " how is Akane doing ?" " She's calmed down a lot ." The young sorceress looked up at him with a smile . " You have that effect on her ." She added with a crooked smile . " I do ?" He smiled back , it was nice to know people were comfortable around him . " How is she physically ?" He inquired . " Nothing I need to treat ?" " Nope , just a little too much fondling ." Otama rubbed her rump . " But some parts are gonna be sore tomorrow ." He glanced at the wall clock . " Good news , it's almost over ." " Nani ?" Otama blinked at him . " You're bad day ." He clarified . " In a few more hours you two can go to bed and put a end to today ." " What about Ranma ?" Akane suddenly came out . " Oh , I'm sure he'll be fine . Ranma can take care of himself from what I've been told . He is the heir to the School of Anything Goes , neh ?" " DAMNED SUN !" She cursed the setting orb as she limped down the street completely soaked from a freak explosion having ruptured a fire hydrant minuets before . " Stay up ! Up , damn you !" " What the HELL are YOU staring at !" She snarled at the general crowed of gawkers . " I would hope so , but still he should call ." Akane was worried but she was trying to hide it . He wasn't fooled , however , if she wanted to hide it he had no business bringing it up . " Um , did he have any money to call with ?" Otama interjected before receding again . " Uh oh ." * * * " Damn drake ," She grumbled , that drake's left jab had given her a headache that picked now to get worse . " next time I'm bringing my daisho then , oh HO , THEN !" She trailed off into rather painful fates for the little dragon . Once she had a handle on the current rise in pain she checked the sky . It was around ten or so . She still had a ways to go before she reached Nerima . The fight with the Drake had been airborne for a while , apparently it had taken her farther than she had hoped . Of course her other encounters didn't exactly follow a linear course towards Nerima . Still all in all she should reach the Dojo before sunrise at this pace . Bad days were never fun , but this one had turned out to be a rather mild one . She looked down at herself for a second . Her clothes were torn , her skin scrapped raw and bleeding , only a few wounds had required a makeshift bandage or such . Yes , she had gotten off easy this time . " Perhaps karma is giving me a break for a while ." She dared to think , but not so speak aloud . A smile barely graced her face as she continued on through the night . At the moment she was bleeding , torn , battered , starved , and a woman , but she was grateful .