Confrontation

by Lord Archive.

Characters belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Communication, 
and some other companies. Used without permission. 
I'll return them as soon as I can find Ryoga.
It may take a while.

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"Just where do you think you're going, Saotome?" Nabiki asked coldly. 
She leveled her frosty gaze at Ranma as he packed his bag.

"You heard Akane. She doesn't want me here, so I'm leavin'," Ranma 
retorted bitterly.

"Cut the bullshit. You damn well know Akane doesn't want you to 
leave."

"Then why did she just say she wished she never met me?"

"Ranma, you know she's been having odd mood swings."

"Odd? You can measure them on a Richter scale. Yesterday she was so 
calm in the kitchen, she cooked better than Kasumi! But what does that 
have to do with anything?"

"Well, before I came to make sure you weren't doing something stupid--
but, silly me, of course you were--I listened as Dad talked about how 
Mom had mood swings like that. She ended up chasing Dad away from 
home. It was a year later he found out he had a daughter named Kasumi. 
It seems odd mood swings during a certain period of time run in my 
mother's family. Give my Dad and your father a little more time and 
they might put two and two together and realize their families have 
been joined."

Ranma did not move a centimeter. He didn't exactly freeze, but he 
wasn't moving.

Nabiki continued, "That and she's afraid. If she's got the flu, then 
why is it she's only sick in the mornings and evenings and why does 
she still have it when it should have run its course days ago." She 
glared at the young Saotome with eyes that spoke of pain and lots of 
it. "Ranma, Akane is afraid she's pregnant. And if you leave now, I'll 
make sure you go through hell. I don't know how I'd do it, but I will 
make you wish you were never born."

Nabiki's threat hung in the air. Ranma just sat there unmoving, while 
Nabiki waited for him to make a move.

"DAMN IT!" Ranma shouted. "I didn't want to know that. I... I may have 
suspected it, but... I don't want this. Akane deserves better than a 
stupid, insensitive jerk like me, and her children deserve better than 
me as a father."

"I won't argue with you about that, but you're who she's got and who 
she wants."

"I'm supposed to help her, but I can't even convince her to see a 
doctor."

"Akane doesn't want to see a doctor because she's afraid of what he'll 
say. That she will no longer suspect she's pregnant, but know it. If 
she doesn't see one, if she ignores it, she thinks it might go away."

"She's afraid?! She's got a family. A family that'll help her, a 
family she can use as role models. I don't have that because I won't 
do what Pop did to me."

"Yes, she's got a family, and you're part of it. You WILL be her 
husband and the father of her children. Running away will only hurt 
her more."

"How good of a husband can I be for her? I don't know how to do that!"

"You've got most of the basics down. You love her, you protect her, 
and you please her. Though you still need to support her and stop 
hurting her yourself."

"What about the kid? How am I suppose to be a father? I'm not even a 
guy all the time! Not to mention all the examples Pop gave me are what 
not to do. Don't take my kid away from his mother, don't value martial 
arts above his well being, and don't engage him to anyone."

"Sounds like you're already better than your own father. Keep that up 
and you might beat mine. Even though your father did screw up, he 
could've done far worse. You aren't that bad of a person, especially 
if you can get my little sister to love you."

Ranma gave a weak laugh. "You know, we've never said that. All the 
times we've done it, ever since that first time on the way back from 
Jusendo, we've never admitted it--even if we do both know that's how 
we feel."

Nabiki blinked. "You shacked up with her BEFORE the wedding 
disaster?!"

"Yeah," Ranma sighed, almost wistfully. "I was sort of afraid Akane 
was a ghost or somethin' and would disappear or die on me. Guess Akane 
felt along the same lines, because when we made camp the night 
following my battle with Saffron, she joined me in my tent. I splashed 
her with hot water to make sure it was her, and seein' as it was I 
didn't fight what happened. I'm glad Shampoo decided to visit her 
village with Mousse, she'd have been piiisssed. Ryoga understood that 
it was what Akane wanted and didn't say anythin' except to try to kill 
me after the weddin' failed."

"Ranma, if you want more moments like that, you have to stay here. You 
love her, she loves you, and right now she needs you. If you leave 
here you'd regret it, even if I didn't do anything to make your life 
hell."

Ranma sighed. He looked at his bag and tossed it into the closet. "I 
guess I'd better talk to Akane again." He walked out of his room and 
almost right into his fiancee.

"R-Ranma...." Akane said, and then buried her face into his chest, 
crying. "I-I'm scared."

Ranma hugged her, realizing she had heard at least part of his talk 
with Nabiki. "So am I, but we can work together on this."

"Don't leave me."

"I won't. I was being stupid to even consider it, but I know now I 
could never leave you. I... I'd die if I couldn't see your uncute face 
at least once a day."

Akane giggled a little. "Ranma...."

The young Saotome stopped hugging his fiancee, and wiped a couple 
tears off her face. "Come on. You need to see a doctor."

Akane shivered. "But I don't...."

"I know you don't want to, but you have ta. Akane, even if you're 
aren't pregnant, you don't have the flu. I don't want to lose you 
because some disease killed you all because you thought the symptoms 
were caused by mornin' sickness."

"B-but...."

Ranma sighed. "No buts. And know this, you may be uncute, but I love 
you. I ain't goin' to leave ya, no matter what happens."

"Y-you promise. You're not going to leave me?"

"Not now, not ever."

Akane shivered again. "O-ok-kay. L-let's go."

The two frightened teens walked towards the door. When they got there, 
they saw Kasumi and Nodoka waiting with their jackets, Genma 
slumbering away with a broken flower pot as a hat, and Soun passed out 
on the floor.

"Be sure to be back by four o'clock for your wedding," Nodoka said 
handing Ranma his jacket.

Ranma and Akane shuddered, but said nothing.

Kasumi helped Akane put on her jacket, and then brushed something off 
it. "Oh my. I seem to have gotten some dirt on my hands and all over 
your coat."

Sweat drops formed on Ranma's and Akane's head.

Nodoka smiled. "Well, someone had to keep your father from 
interrupting you, and he never would've suspected Kasumi would stop 
him like that."

Ranma laughed nervously. "Right. We'll be back as soon as we can. 
Bye." He grabbed Akane's shaking hand.

Akane swallowed nervously. "Ah. Bye."

The two left home, only certain about one thing, that they would face 
their future together.

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Thanks to all of you who have sent C&C to me in the past.

A special thanks to Freemage for the grammar shred and this joke.
[Hands Kasumi another flowerpot.  "Kasumi, I think we need to retake 
that scene again."  "Oh, my.  Isn't twenty-five takes a lot?"  "Nah, 
sometimes it takes thirty or forty."  The Panda groans.] 

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