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Yuki: A Day (and Night) in the Life ( Chapter 2 ) [ P - Pre-Teen ]
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2
Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation
Author: Doctor Emmit Brown
Uploaded On: June 17, 2004 21:45 CDT
Pages: 5 | Words: 5344 | Size: 28 KB | Visits: 751 | Status: Completed
 
Luck ( Chapter 1 ) Luck ( Chapter 1 ) Sleep Deprivation ( Chapter 3 ) Sleep Deprivation ( Chapter 3 )


Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi is not I, thus Ranma is not owned by me.

Man, it's been forever and a day since I last updated this. I have excuses out the wazoo, but I'm sure you don't want to read them…

*********

Chapter 2 - A Day (and Night) in the Life.

A man and a panda staggered through the gate of the Tendo Dojo. Though both were experienced martial artists, neither seemed to be too sure on their feet. Drinking sake and beer most of the night will make even the most sure-footed person weak in the knees. The pair had gone out shortly after dinner to celebrate. Surely the fact that Ranma and Akane hadn't returned from their shopping trip meant that they were shacked up together in a love hotel somewhere, right?

The odd pair reached the door. Soun tried to fit his key in the lock, but the darn lock kept moving out of the way! Luckily, Kasumi seemed to have heard him scratching the key on the door, and opened it to admit the two drunkards.

Kasumi saw father and his friend's inebriated state and sighed. "Come Father, Mr. Saotome," she said. "Let's get you to bed." She proceeded to lead the two off to their rooms. They stopped at Soun's room first, and she lay her father down on his futon. She then turned to lead the panda off to his room, but the large animal had already passed out on the floor. Kasumi just sighed, and she left the room, shutting off the light and closing the door.

*********

"Insert tab A into slot B, and slide the bar into place…"

Akane read the instructions to the crib Ranma was trying to put together. Nabiki had found the old crib in the attic. It had once belonged to the three Tendo sisters at one point in time or another, and luckily it seemed to still be in good shape. It was even luckier that the assembly instructions were still in the box with all the parts. Normally, Ranma's male pride would have protested against using the instructions, but once he saw just how many parts there were, he decided that perhaps it would be best to let his ego take the hit, rather than have something go wrong, and have his head take a hit from Akane.

"Slide the roller onto the track, and lock it into place with latch R…"

They were putting the crib in Ranma's room. Akane's room wasn't big enough to put the crib in and still be able to get to the door, and Kasumi had already told them that Genma would be spending the night in Soun's room, so that meant that there would be plenty of room with Ranma.

"Next, use the Allen key to bolt brackets Q onto the corners of the base…"

Ranma hated this part. It seemed as if all the screws on the darn thing were rusted and stripped from repeated assembly. He desperately wished that the hardware store was still open so he could go and buy some new screws.

Akane wasn't faring much better. The instructions were written in five different languages, and it seemed as if they were originally written for Americans, since the English instructions were on the top of the list. Plus, some idiot decided to place the Japanese and Chinese instructions next to each other. She kept starting to read the Chinese characters before she realised that she had already read those instructions to him1. The fact that Yuki, who had woken from her brief nap and was sitting in Akane's lap, seemed to find the instructions to be very interesting, and kept pawing at them didn't help either. Every time she had to move the page out of the baby's reach, she lost her place, and would frequently ask Ranma if he had done a step already. She had almost gone to get her Japanese-English dictionary so she could read the larger print at the top of the page, and not lose her spot all the time.

When the crib was finally set up, Ranma moved to take Yuki from Akane and place her in the crib, but Akane pulled back. "Wait Ranma, how do we know that's safe?" she asked him.

Ranma's ego took a serious blow at that comment. She was questioning his abilities! He bit back the harsh remark he had at the ready though, because to be honest, he wasn't quite sure it was safe either. After all, he had put it together, and it wasn't as if he'd ever done anything even remotely similar before. Still, he did have some pride "I'm sure it's okay Akane. All she has to do is sleep in it right?"

Akane looked sceptical. "I don't know Ranma. If we're done, what are all those pieces doing on the floor?"

There were quite a few pieces still strewn out around the crib. Ranma had no idea what they were for. "Maybe they're spare parts?" he guessed.

Akane didn't buy it. "We should test it somehow. How much do you think Yuki weighs?"

Ranma proceeded to take Yuki from Akane and hold her at arms length. He bounced her gently, testing the weight, and making the little girl squeal in delight. He gently gave her back to Akane. "8 kilograms," he said. From the tone of his voice, Akane could tell that it wasn't a guess.

"Well, I have some 5 kilogram dumbbells in my room. If we test it at 10 kilos, and it doesn't break, then we'll know it's safe."

Ranma couldn't argue with that logic. He took Yuki into his arms as Akane raced off to get her weights. Yuki whimpered slightly in Ranma's arms at the exchange, but Ranma soon settled her by holding her close, and making soft cooing noises. Akane returned shortly with her dumbbells. She put the weights in the crib, and stood back. Nothing happened.

"Well, Ranma. I'm rather impressed. It seems you managed to put this thing together without fouling up." Akane turned to smirk at her fiancé.

Ranma scowled at her. "Of course I did Akane. I'm a guy. I could have done this with my eyes closed." He took one step towards the crib, and the bottom fell out, bringing the mattress down with it. "Well… at least the sides are still up, this is a quick fix!" He took another step towards the crib, and the sides promptly fell away from each other. Ranma looked at Akane sheepishly. "It's because those old screws were all stripped and rusty! Honest!" Akane just sighed, and picked up the instructions.

*********

Another hour later, and a quick trip to the neighbours to borrow some new screws, the crib was once again set up, and this time didn't fall apart when the weights were put in the bed. It even stayed together when Ranma jumped up and down on the floor next to it, or shook the bed.

Ranma turned to Akane with a satisfied smile on his face. Akane just shook her head in amusement. She carried the sleeping babe over to the crib, and gently laid her in. Akane stood over the crib, and watched the little girl sleep. She couldn't describe what it was she was feeling, or why. Not four hours ago, she was panicking because they were gong to have to take care of the girl, and yet as she watched her sleep, Akane couldn't help but to feel warm and content inside. A smile crept across her face as she watched Yuki's steady breathing. She reached in the crib, and gently stroked her short red locks of hair.

Ranma watched from the other side of the room. He saw the look on Akane's face, and it made him feel all gooey inside. 'She's so good with her,' he thought. 'She'll be a great mom to our kids some day… Wait…OUR kids? Where did that come from?'

Ranma was puzzling over that line of thought when Akane turned to him. "Ranma," she said. "Are you going to be alright here alone with Yuki?"

Ranma looked perplexed. "Uh… yeah Akane, why?"

Akane fidgeted with her hands, as she looked all around the room trying to avoid his eyes. "Well…I just thought that if you wanted help taking care of Yuki tonight…I could…"

Ranma smirked at his fiancée. "What, you don't think I can take care of her, Tomboy?"

Akane bristled. 'That name again!' "No, Ranma. I'm just offering to help out tonight."

Ranma shrugged. "I dunno. I should be all right. She's going to be sleeping anyway right."

"Ummm…" Akane started. "I don't think…"

"Look, all I have to do is make sure she doesn't fall out of the crib, right? I think I can take care of that myself."

Akane scowled at Ranma. 'That damn ego of his,' she thought. "Fine then. If you think you can take care of her yourself, then I'll leave the two of you alone. She stalked out of the room, and nearly slammed the door before she remembered Yuki was sleeping, and instead settled for just shutting it firmly.

Ranma stared at the door for a few moments. "What's eating her?"

*********

Hours later, Ranma woke up to the sound of crying for the umpteenth time. That in of itself should be a testament to the sheer volume Yuki was able to reach. He looked over at the crib next to his futon, and groaned. She hadn't slept for more than two hours at a time the entire night, and it was driving him crazy. Every time she started to cry, either Nabiki came to shout at him, or Kasumi came in and tried to help calm Yuki. Akane never even left her room. Many diaper changes (done by Kasumi) and feedings (Ranma was able to handle those himself) later she still wouldn't sleep.

Ranma sighed in defeat, swore revenge on whatever was causing Yuki to cry, and picked her up once again. She always seemed to calm down a bit whenever he held her. After checking her diaper (which was, thankfully, clean), Ranma took her over to the chair in the corner of the room. He then held her upright against his chest as he had done earlier in the evening, and softly cooed to her. Yuki began to calm down. He then reached over for the bottle they had left out, and tried to feed her, but she wouldn't take the bottle. Ranma just sighed, and tried to coax her into going to sleep again, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, he laid down on his futon, and laid her on his chest. He then gently started to stroke her back. The touch seemed to have a calming effect on the babe, who finally gave a yawn, and nodded off. Ranma made to stand and return Yuki to her crib, but then realised he might be able to get some sleep too if he didn't move her. Soon, both were fast asleep.

*********

Morning came too quickly for Ranma. Yuki had stayed asleep after he left her on his chest, but that was only three hours previous. Not only that, but Yuki had woken up earlier than he was used to, and was squirming around and whimpering trying to break free of the arm that was protectively wrapped around her. There was also a distinct odour wafting through the air that turned Ranma's stomach. He gently placed Yuki on the floor, and started sniffing around the room looking for the cause of the smell. He searched all over the room, but it seemed to be coming from the centre of the room, specifically where his futon was placed. Then he realised what was sitting on the futon, looking up at him with big curious eyes. "Yuck Yuki, you need a change." Yuki just smiled at him and giggled.

Recalling that Kasumi had changed her all the previous times during the night, he picked up the baby, held her at arms length, and went off to search for the eldest Tendo daughter. He found her in the kitchen making breakfast. Kasumi didn't hear Ranma approach, but her nose wrinkled as he drew closer. She turned to see Ranma resembling a zombie from lack of sleep trying to pass off the baby to be changed. "Oh no you don't," she admonished. "I changed her for you all last night, it's time you learned how to take care of her as well. I made Akane do it too you know."

Ranma scowled. "Remind me never to ask for any favours from you when you haven't gotten much sleep," he replied. Still, he took Yuki's changing blanket and laid it on the table in the kitchen to change her. Kasumi hovered nearby, ready to offer advice should it be needed, but continued to make breakfast. Yuki smiled up at Ranma, and kicked her feet playfully, adding to the difficulty of the task at hand. Finally, Ranma managed to undo the diaper, and open it up to reveal the mess inside. He turned green from the added smell. Kasumi had to fan herself with a towel to keep from fainting. Ranma quickly cleaned Yuki, and wrapped the entire mess in the diaper, opened the window over the sink, and hurled the diaper through it as hard as he could.

"Ranma… you probably shouldn't have done that…" Kasumi remarked, with only a small hint of admonishment in her voice, as she was glad to be rid of the smell as much as he was.

"I'm sure it will be alright," Ranma said. "I just feel a bit sorry for the poor sap that comes across it though.

*********

Across town at the Kuno mansion, Tatewaki was out for a stroll in the garden. He turned to face the rising morning sun, and drew in a deep breath.

It was then the white ballistic object hit him full on the face. It was the first recorded incident of biological warfare in Japan.

*********

Noon found Ranma and Akane standing outside of Dr. Tofu's clinic, with Yuki in a stroller being pushed by her foster mother. Neither had spoken to the other all morning, and had only decided to take Yuki to see the doctor on a suggestion from Kasumi. The walk to the clinic was quiet, with Ranma taking up position on the fence rail in an effort to further ignore Akane. Akane, for her part, never even looked up at him. Ranma opened the door, and held it open for Akane to push Yuki through.

Dr. Tofu met them in the waiting room. He smiled when he saw the pair, but his expression quickly turned to shock when he noticed the stroller. "I know it has been a while since we last saw each other Akane, but you really should have come to me while you were pregnant to make sure everything was alright," he remarked. "I suppose congratulations are in order…"

Both Ranma and Akane blushed heavily. Each tried to deny the doctor's prognosis, but it all came out gibberish. Tofu kneeled down to look at his new patient.

"Well hello there little girl! What's your name?" He made a silly face. Yuki reached out and took his glasses off his nose. "Whoa now! Aren't you a curious little thing?"

Akane finally regained her composer. "No, Dr. Tofu, Yuki here isn't our baby… well… at least not in that way…"

"We found her abandoned in a dumpster yesterday," Ranma chimed in. "Could you give her the once over to make sure she's okay?"

Tofu looked up at the teens, and noticed that they were still blushing heavily. He laughed. "I'm sorry. I just would have guessed that you two would have tied the knot by now!" This comment caused a deeper hue of red to blaze across their faces. "Come on back and I'll give her a check-up."

Akane reached in the stroller, picked Yuki up, and carried her into the examination room. Ranma walked in next to Tofu explaining how they found her, and how they ended up caring for her. Akane sat Yuki down on the table. Tofu noticed this and smiled. "Ah, so she can sit up already. That will make it easier to place her age." Both Ranma and Akane looked at the doctor in confusion, so he explained. "Most babies can sit up by 8 or 9 months old. She doesn't look very malnourished, so I'd venture to guess that you managed to find her relatively soon after she was left, and that means that I'll be able to further guess her age from her weight."

Tofu weighed Yuki ("See? I told you she was 8 kilos"), listened to her heart, checked her ears, and poked around on her stomach.2 He then asked Akane to hold her while he drew some blood for tests. Yuki gave a small gasp and started to cry when he poked her heel to draw the blood.3 "I'll need to send these blood samples into the hospital for the testing, so if you could bring her back in a week from now, that would be great."

As Akane dressed Yuki and comforted her, Tofu gave Ranma some instructions. "Yuki is healthy all things considering. You two have done a good job taking care of her so far, and I want you to continue to do everything you have been so far. My best guess is that she is about 8 months old, so you need to baby-proof the house since she'll start crawling soon. I also want you to help her develop her leg muscles by helping her stand and even walk every now and then." He noticed that Ranma was starting to grin as an idea was shaped in his head. "No katas yet though Ranma."

Ranma frowned. 'How did he know? Am I that predictable?' "Ok Doc, we'll be sure to do all of that. See ya next week!"

*********

The fathers were awake by the time the new family returned home. Neither had any idea about Yuki, as their drunken-induced sleep caused them to sleep through all of the crying the previous night, and Ranma and Akane had left before the two woke up. They took one look at the baby in the stroller and came to the conclusion that she was their granddaughter. Hangovers were quickly forgotten as the two beamed with pride and declared that the schools were finally united.

"Akane, though I am happy with your union, don't you think you should have told us you were pregnant?" Soun asked. "A pregnant woman need special care while she carries the child to term. We could have helped you if you would have told. You certainly didn't show at all… Although, neither did you mother..."

"Ranma my boy, you've made you're old man proud!" Genma chimed in. "I can't wait to see the look on your mothers face when she meets her grandchild. That will show her how manly you are!"

Akane glared at them. "What the hell are you thinking? The schools aren't united! Ranma and I found this baby while out shopping yesterday! I didn't give birth to it, it was abandoned in the dumpster and we saved her!" All this added excitement caused Yuki to get upset, and she started to cry again. She was still a bit upset from being poked earlier, and all these people shouting certainly weren't helping her mood. Akane quickly picked her up out of the stroller and stormed off to Ranma's room to comfort her and put her down for a nap. Ranma turned to follow, but decided to have a word with the older men first.

"Look, Akane and I have been getting along better lately than we had in the past, but that is mostly due to the fact that you two stopped trying to force us to get married. Starting that up again is not going to help matters at all. Just do me a favour and STAY OUT OF OUR LIVES!" He then turned, and followed Akane upstairs. The stunned fathers could only gawk as they watched their children leave. Where had they gone wrong to deserve such ungrateful offspring?

*********

Yuki was in a bad mood, and not willing to come out of it. She had had a rather rough day between the doctor visit and the yelling, and the fact that her new mommy and daddy didn't seem to be in a good mood when around each other either. So she let the world know all about her strife, at 120 decibels.

Akane was doing everything she could think of to calm the baby. She rocked her, changed her, offered her a bottle, and cooed softly while rubbing her back. Nothing seemed to work like it used to. So she tried something new, and started to sing a silly song she remembered hearing on the radio a few years back.4

Yappappa- yappappa- ii shan ten

hashagu koi wa ike no koi

Yappappa- yappappa- ii shan ten

mune no tai wa dakaretai

Akane started to bounce and spin around in time with the song. Yuki's bawling seemed to take on a lesser volume, so Akane continued.

wake mo wakarazu ni

Ranma Ranma de hi ga kureru

kimi to atte kara

Ranma Ranma de

nadakanda to

suttamonda no seikimatsu

Yuki's crying had all but stopped, and she seemed to be on the verge of laughing. Akane smiled brightly and continued to sing.

naze motto shizuka ni

"suki da yo" to ienai no?

hariau to watashi mo

jajauma ni nacchau!

Akane took on a swaying dance during this stanza, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. It just seemed appropriate for some reason.

beru mo narasazu ni

soyokaze no you ni

mune no wanru-mu

sumitsuita kimi na no

meiwaku yo dakedo

...kon'ya dake ii wa

(...ashita made ii wa)

At this point Yuki was smiling and laughing as Akane swung her around. Akane made another pirouette and stopped facing the door. She blushed as she saw a grinning Ranma standing in it "You know, I never really liked that song much, it makes me out to be some kind of bad guy," he said. "But you were doing a good job singing it."

Akane blushed even harder. "I'm sure they weren't referring to you in the song Ranma, just a play on words between 'Ranma' and 'jajauma'."5

Ranma just smiled and shook his head. "Well, at least it seemed to work. We're going to have to remember that one. Come on, I'll take you and Yuki out for ice cream. My treat."

Akane looked at him surprised at his offer, but free ice cream must never be questioned, so instead she just followed him out the door.

*********

Evening came, and Ranma and Akane were putting Yuki to bed. She had calmed down a lot after the song, and especially after the ice cream. Dinner was a silent affair with Ranma and Akane taking turns feeding Yuki what the jar claimed was carrots, and eating their own dinners. They were alone with their fathers, as Nabiki was spending the night at the apartment of one of her college friends ("…to get the last good nights sleep I'm going to get in a long while," she'd said), and Kasumi was out on what seemed to be a date with Tofu (the words "about time" were muttered by much of the family since the date was announced). Neither the fathers nor their children made eye contact with the other.

Akane gently laid Yuki on her stomach, and started to rub her back, coaxing the little girl to sleep. Ranma looked over at her, and noticed the same look on her face that he had seen the night before; the same loving look in her eyes. He made his decision right then to swallow his pride.

"Akane, I'm sorry for whatever I said or did last night that got you angry. If you want to spend the night in here, I'm sure Pop isn't going to be sleeping in here."

Akane just stood there stunned. First the ice cream, and now an apology? She turned to face him with a quizzical look on her face. "Alright, who are you and what have you done to the real Ranma?"

Ranma chuckled. "Nope, still the same old Ranma, maybe a little wiser though. Especially after last night…"

"Oh, so that's it then. You just don't want to have to get up with her alone all night, so you ask me to help?"

"Well…" Ranma started, but quickly changed his mind after the look she gave him. "Look, I noticed the way you look at her when you put her down to sleep. You had the same look in your eyes last night too. I just thought…" Akane put a finger to his lips, effectively silencing him.

She smiled at him. "Thanks Ranma," she said. Then she left the room to change into her pyjamas. Ranma watched her leave, and just smiled.

*********

2 A.M., and Yuki decided she was hungry. Akane made to get up, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "I'll get her honey," said Ranma. "You can get the next one."

"Ok dear," she replied. In their sleep deprived states, neither realised what they had called each other.

*********

[1] According to one of my pre-readers, Chinese and Japanese lettering is the same, just pronounced differently. If anybody knows different, don't hesitate to correct me.

[2] Doctors always do this. I assume it's to make sure everything on the inside is all hunky dory, but I'm not sure.

[3] I think I heard that this is how you draw blood from a baby from a magazine. If I'm wrong, again, please correct me.

[4] Before anyone rants and raves, I will admit that I'm about to pull one of the biggest Ranma fanfic clichés there are, Akane is going to sing Jajauma ni Sasenaide, Better known as "Don't Make Me Wild Like You," the first opening theme to the anime. In my defense, this is a real song in the Ranma universe (there is an episode in season 6 where Akane's friends sing it karaoke style.), and it is rather humorous if you know what the lyrics mean. Visit http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/ranma/rnjajaum.htm for the lyrics in romanji and in English.

[5] "Jajauma" and "Ranma" both mean "Wild or unruly horse," and in fact are spelled with the same kanji.

Finally! This chapter is DONE! I've been working on it since APRIL! Forget waiting on prereaders, I'm posting this NOW. Thanks to Koala Kitty for her input on babies once again. I hope what I got is accurate! Read her stuff! It's good!

Next chapter will feature the NWC and their reactions to Yuki! Expect hilarity!


Luck ( Chapter 1 ) Luck ( Chapter 1 ) Sleep Deprivation ( Chapter 3 ) Sleep Deprivation ( Chapter 3 )